Austin Federa: The Solana Foundation’s Head of Strategy

A Solana Ecosystem’s Incredible Year

Austin Federa is the head of strategy at the Solana Foundation. The last twelve months have been an incredible time for base-layer innovation on Solana, making the network the only place where the promise of blockchain meets the lightning-quick standards today’s consumers expect.

Pushing the Ecosystem Forward

The Solana ecosystem team is pushing the entire ecosystem forward with the launch of tools that make it possible to truly decentralize the web3 stack.

Executable NFTs: A New Way to Build Applications

Executable NFTs, available in the open beta of new open source wallet Backpack, represent an entirely new way to build applications that are safer, better to use, and in line with the decentralized values blockchain is built on.

By combining executable websites and applications that can run locally on a user’s computer with a crypto wallet, xNFTs in Backpack show a promising new type of hybrid web3 application – not quite an application, not quite a website.

Unlocking New Avenues for Program Distribution

xNFT Collections unlock whole new avenues for program distribution. A game developer can mint their entire game as limited-edition xNFTs. A DeFi protocol can distribute early access to a new front-end based on wallet addresses. A two-factor code can be generated as an NFT, and automatically cycle through. An artist can create beautiful immersive 3d experiences that can’t be copied, and run directly in the wallet. The possibilities are almost limitless.

xNFT Collections: A New Level of Interactivity

Because they are, at their core, NFTs, xNFTs can bring a new level of interactivity to traditional collections. The first xNFT Collection, Mad Lads, showcases the power of an executable profile picture collection — the pictures themselves act as a chatroom for users which is rendered entirely within the NFT.

Solana’s Recent Innovations

• Core engineers from Solana Labs and across the ecosystem have built and deployed the world’s first local fee markets, as well implemented a number of upgrades like QUIC to stabilize the network at times of high activity.
• State compression is a new innovation that uses Merkle trees to radically shrink the cost of storing any type of data on-chain.
• Compressed NFTs, the first use case of state compression and developed by engineers at Metaplex and Solana Labs, reduced the cost of storing NFTs on Solana by up 26,000x — as proven by Helium’s migration to Solana, which minted nearly a million NFTs for a little more than $100.
• Jito Labs released a new version of the Solana validator client that as of March 2023 comprised sixteen percent of total stake — making Solana only the second proof of stake blockchain to have more than one validator client.
• At Breakpoint 2022, Jump gave a demo of Firedancer, a performant validator client that processed.6 million transactions per second in a test environment.
• The launch of the Solana Mobile Stack and the flagship device Saga created a framework to make it easy for the world’s 5 billion mobile phone users to use blockchain technologies for the first time.

A Call to Action

Solana, at its core, is an open source project by thousands of builders across the world. It’s the sum of the work by every ecosystem project, student builder, creator, and more. It is up to the Solana community to bring this ecosystem forward, and I’m heartened to see so many projects bubbling up and growing to make everyone stronger.

If you are building something that can help the entire community, the Solana Foundation wants to help. You can apply for a grant, convertible grant, or investment, share your knowledge at Breakpoint, make your project open source, or whatever you can think of. The Solana ecosystem is made up of people who create public goods — Armani Ferrante, the creator of xNFTs, got his start on Solana building the Anchor framework.

Conclusion

This community is made up of all of you. And if we help each other, we are going to make it.

FAQs

What are Executable NFTs?

Executable NFTs are a new type of NFT that combines executable websites and applications that can run locally on a user’s computer with a crypto wallet.

How do xNFTs work?

xNFTs use a combination of executable websites and applications that can run locally on a user’s computer with a crypto wallet to create a new type of hybrid web3 application.

What is the Solana Foundation?

The Solana Foundation is a non-profit organization that provides support and resources to the Solana ecosystem, including funding for grants, research, and community development.

What is the Solana Mobile Stack?

The Solana Mobile Stack is a framework that makes it easy for the world’s 5 billion mobile phone users to use blockchain technologies for the first time.

What is a Grant from the Solana Foundation?

A grant from the Solana Foundation is a funding opportunity that supports projects and initiatives that can help the Solana ecosystem grow and evolve.