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Today, enjoy the Lightspeed newsletter on Blockworks.co. Tomorrow, get the news delivered directly to your inbox.\u00a0<\/em>Subscribe to the Lightspeed newsletter<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n Howdy!<\/p>\n To briefly continue this newsletter\u2019s sandwich discourse: I was down in Florida for a wedding this weekend, and I went to Publix for the first time to try a Pub Sub \u2014 a regional delicacy, I\u2019m told.<\/p>\n I got a chicken bacon ranch sub and saw the light. New York\u2019s culinary scene reins supreme generally, but Florida has us beat on grocery store sandwiches, I\u2019ll grant. Anyways:\u00a0<\/p>\n This morning, I bought BONK<\/strong> directly within<\/a> my X<\/strong> feed, which was something I couldn\u2019t do yesterday.<\/p>\n The Solana Foundation<\/strong> and Dialect<\/strong> just released<\/a> actions, which deliver signable Solana transactions directly from applications to users \u2014 so you can buy a token on X without leaving the platform, for instance. These actions can be turned into shareable blockchain links, or blinks, which make it possible to interact onchain anywhere a URL can be displayed.\u00a0<\/p>\n With its X-centric release, blinks feel a bit like a Solana<\/a>-meets-Crypto Twitter version of Farcaster<\/strong> Frames. Frames let developers on the crypto-native social media platform embed external apps or website actions within users\u2019 feeds.<\/p>\n Actions and blinks appear to have broader ambitions though: Dialect said<\/a> the tools will expand to support more internet \u201csurfaces\u201d in coming weeks, including Reddit<\/strong> and Discord<\/strong>.<\/p>\n \u201cBlockchain protocols have always been limited by their reach,\u201d Jon Wong<\/strong>, ecosystem engineering lead at the Solana Foundation<\/strong>, told me. Actions allow crypto transactions to happen away from crypto-aware applications, which should help with broader adoption, Wong added.<\/p>\n Wong said actions are an advancement on Solana Pay remote transaction technology that was developed roughly two years ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n Still, \u201cFarcaster Frames definitely catalyzed some of the efforts here,\u201d Wong said, noting that actions aim to be available on any website, as opposed to Frames which are limited to Farcaster.<\/p>\n But the decision to initially deploy actions and blinks on X \u2014 where much of crypto discourse still happens \u2014 may speak to some pragmatism on the Solana ecosystem\u2019s end as well.<\/p>\n \u201cX is just such a good product, and already has the network effects where all of [crypto Twitter] lives on X,\u201d Tensor<\/strong> Chief Technology Officer Richard Wu<\/strong> told me in a DM. \u201cBringing what are essentially \u2018Frames\u2019 for X to the user, vs the other way around (asking users to go to [a] different app to use frames), could be the unlock to integrate crypto into our existing online lives.\u201d<\/p>\n Arnold Lee<\/strong>, CEO of actions and blinks user Sphere<\/strong>, said the tools\u2019 launch speaks to \u201cSolana\u2019s cultural engineering focus,\u201d where the network\u2019s developers think backwards from the user experience.<\/p>\n I asked Wong for some business lines actions and blinks might enable (other than, you know, buying memecoins more easily).\u00a0<\/p>\n Customers could pay with crypto at a retail store using a QR code with actions, and online content creators could receive tips directly in-platform with blinks, Wong cited alongside several other examples. (He also said readers could vote on community policies via links in newsletters \u2014 should we drop Lightspeed blinks?)<\/p>\n A host of protocols partnered with blinks on day one, including wallet apps Phantom<\/strong> and Backpack<\/strong>, along with notable Solana ecosystem projects like Helium<\/strong>, Jupiter<\/strong>, and Sanctum<\/strong>. The new feature launch also has everyone talking on my timeline in a way reminiscent of Frames\u2019 launch \u2014 which led to a spike in Farcaster usage.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n I\u2019ll be curious to see where blinks get deployed outside of X. Both TikTok<\/strong> and Instagram<\/strong> have tested the waters on in-app shopping \u2014 with not-always-inspiring results. Solana transactions that charge low fees and don\u2019t require external wallet apps could be eye-catching for social giants of their ilk.<\/p>\n \u2014 Jack Kubinec<\/em><\/p>\n That\u2019s the size of the venture fund Colosseum just announced<\/a> for Solana ecosystem projects.\u00a0<\/p>\n Colosseum does venture capital in a kind of novel way<\/a>: It runs hackathons and invests in the winners, while accepting some into its startup accelerator. The fund\u2019s co-founder previously started the Solana Foundation\u2019s hackathon program.<\/p>\n This $60 million fund will go entirely to Solana projects, a Colosseum spokesperson told Blockworks. It\u2019ll be a pretty notable capital injection into an ecosystem that around a year ago was battling regulatory scrutiny and watching its native token trade in the teens.<\/p>\n \u2014 Jack Kubinec<\/em><\/p>\n Last Friday, Light Protocol announced<\/a> ZK Compression \u2014 a new primitive to reduce token and account costs while enabling native zero-knowledge compute on Solana. ZK Compression stores<\/a> only state roots on-chain, using ZK proofs to ensure state validity. This is meant to drastically cut costs while maintaining security and performance.<\/p>\n The announcement sparked<\/a> some<\/a> controversy<\/a> on social media, with some accusing Light Protocol of repackaging Ethereum concepts without proper credit. Ryan Berckmans argued<\/a>, \u201cSolana\u2019s zk compression has some features of Ethereum\u2019s validity rollups, some features of Ethereum\u2019s planned statelessness with verkle tries, and relies on three different kinds of offchain node software.\u201d He called<\/a> it a disguised L2 solution, prompting a heated debate. Mert Mumtaz from Helius Labs responded<\/a> to the varied criticisms, stating \u201cSolana\u2019s decoupling of compute and data is not a thing in Ethereum [\u2026] the problem sets and bottlenecks in the different systems are completely different.\u201d<\/p>\n Mert\u2019s defense emphasized<\/a> the uniqueness of Solana\u2019s approach, further noting that \u201ccalling this a rollup or validium would confuse the shit out of literally everyone because almost nothing would apply.\u201d Some sided with Mert, with users such as @crypto_is_good saying<\/a>, \u201cI wouldn\u2019t listen to insecure eth maxies.\u201d Others took a less favorable<\/a> stance, with @SolarEtherPunk commenting<\/a>, \u201cGrifters gonna grift. It\u2019s called ZK roll up you scammers.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite the differing opinions, ZK Compression is set to bring even greater scalability to the Solana ecosystem. As user Bitsperity said<\/a>, \u201cLet\u2019s focus on substance rather than semantics. This industry is divided but there will be a product fit for different stacks.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014 Jeffrey Albus<\/em><\/p>\n A message from FP Lee, co-founder of Sanctum<\/strong>:<\/p>\n Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. Subscribe to the On the Margin newsletter<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n
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\nBlinks, actions, and buying Solana tokens within X<\/h2>\n
Zero In<\/h2>\n
$60 million<\/h3>\n
The Pulse<\/h2>\n
One Good DM<\/h2>\n
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