The Solana Community: A Decentralized Future
We’re only a month into 2023, and it’s clear that this year will be a special one for the Solana Community. As energized and resolute as ever, we can see that the principles that define this ecosystem have never been stronger.
A Resilient Community
A wise man once said, “Don’t call it a comeback.” That’s how we all should feel right now. Despite the turbulent market and constant FUD, the recent Electric Capital Developer Report confirmed that builders keep flocking to Solana. With 8% growth year-over-year for full-time developers in the broader crypto community, the developer numbers on Solana are up 83% as of Dec. 2022, from a year earlier. There are now more than 2,000 monthly active developers building on Solana – second in raw numbers only to Ethereum.
Nearly all of this is organic community growth. There are now thousands of teams building projects, dApps, and tools that can only be built using Solana’s high throughput and low fees. For us, it’s a vindication.
A Vision for the Future
When the Solana whitepaper was published in late 2017, the vision was to build a future based on fair access to finance, freedom, and security. Ten, fifty, and one hundred years from now, we won’t need centralized financial authorities to decide who can do what in society, and blockchain technology will bring more prosperity and freedom to humanity.
It’s been less than three years since the Solana mainnet was launched in beta. Much has changed in the world and even more has changed in crypto – we believe these changes are positive ones overall that will lead the entire industry to realize its future vision. We have never felt more optimistic about this future.
How “the Promise of Web3” Failed in 2022
If web1 was the internet web of individual static websites, and web2 was the internet of the centralized platform company, web3 is the promise of an internet where users are in control, true owners of the platforms and services they use. Blockchain is the truest expression of the web3 vision – a technology that holds up the principles of decentralization, self-sovereignty, fairness, and freedom. But events of the last year have betrayed those tenets.
2022 saw perhaps the steepest decline ever in the general public’s trust in crypto. Much of the decline can be attributed to companies that did not practice the ideals of web3, and the disastrous events that followed are a direct result of their betrayal of the values we hold dear. These centralized companies did not believe in an even financial playing field, self-custody, or even basic decentralization, and their collapse caused a great deal of damage. For many, the whole industry now has a reputation for being unreliable and untrustworthy.
Decentralization is the Key
While much of the crypto industry has bounced back quickly, that reputational damage has been highly detrimental to those who have been legitimately building in the space for years and now see their names associated with what has really been “crypto-washed traditional finance”, or outright fraud.
Decentralization is the heart of web3 – and to truly embrace web3’s promise, it needs to be the uncompromising core of everything a project does. Fully open-sourced code. All activity on-chain. Self-custody. Community-owned. Trustless and permissionless systems that are specifically designed to prevent fraud and counterparty risk and ensure the highest levels of transparency and accountability for all parties involved. Virtually none of the players that melted down in 2022 valued those principles. The ecosystems that do are still alive and building a better future for us all – including Solana.
A Decentralized Future
The concept of antifragility is perfectly embodied by the saying “what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.” Web3 is a great example of an antifragile ecosystem because most of the attacks against it (be it by speculators, the media, legacy systems, and bad actors) have the unintuitive effect of strengthening the community, security, decentralization, and popularity of the network.
Bear markets also produce a similar effect, despite the market downturn throughout 2022:
Conclusion
The Solana Community is a testament to the power of decentralization and the resilience of its builders. As we look to the future, we are more optimistic than ever that the principles of web3 will guide us towards a brighter, more equitable world.
FAQs
Q: What is the Electric Capital Developer Report, and why is it significant for Solana?
A: The Electric Capital Developer Report is a report that tracks the growth and development of full-time developers in the broader crypto community. The report shows that Solana has seen a significant increase in developer activity, with an 83% year-over-year growth in monthly active developers.
Q: What is the significance of Solana’s high throughput and low fees?
A: Solana’s high throughput and low fees make it an attractive platform for developers to build projects, dApps, and tools that can take advantage of its scalability and efficiency.
Q: How does Solana’s decentralized ecosystem respond to the collapse of centralized actors?
A: Solana is a decentralized ecosystem, and as such, it is resilient to the collapse of centralized actors. When a big actor collapses, the community remains resilient, picks up the pieces, and continues to build and grow.
Q: What is the concept of antifragility, and how does it relate to web3?
A: Antifragility is the ability of a system to not only withstand shocks and stresses but to actually become stronger and more resilient as a result. Web3 is an antifragile ecosystem because it is designed to adapt and evolve in response to attacks and challenges, making it stronger and more resilient over time.
