i'll admit:
i haven't been very optimistic about Solana recently, and i've been quite vocal about it
in fact, i have a thesis written on why i think RH & BNB Chain outperform while Solana loses significant mindshare/marketshare this cycle
i wrote the draft last week and have just been too busy to edit it
i think it's probably the longest thing i've ever written for X π
but my bias is starting to change
i'm beginning to lean bullish on Solana and the Solana ecosystem again
at least much more bullish than i've been over the past few months
and there are a few reasons why:
1. Solana is starting to embrace the trenches again
i have zero exposure to
$STONK or its ecosystem
i actually faded it because i assumed Pumpfun would launch a similar feature and kill it early
but i've noticed Solana leaning VERY heavily into pushing STONK and its ecosystem over the past week
so much so that both STONK and another token launched on it have hit $100m+ market caps within the past week
IMO, this is a clear sign of a cultural shift within Solana
it looks like they're becoming much more willing to encourage and incentivize projects that can actually help their ecosystem grow
this is BY FAR the recent development i'm most bullish on
not because of the token itself
but because of what it potentially represents:
a cultural change coming from the top down
2. Solana leadership is paying attention now
they actually reached out to me and wanted to chat about how they can better align with the trenches
i had a very constructive chat with
@vibhu today π«‘
i think this is a pretty big deal
nobody could force them to reach out if they didn't want to
but they clearly recognized that something wasn't working and wanted to understand how they could improve it
that makes me significantly more bullish on their leadership
huge props to
@mst1287 for facilitating this btw π«‘
3. Solana is taking a much more active stance towards supporting its ecosystem
i think a lot of blockchains are starting to learn from Robinhood and
@vladtenev π
the StonkFun example i mentioned above is one example
another is Solana's official page acknowledging solana:Dz9mQ9NzkBcCsuGPFJ3r1bS4wgqKMHBPiVuniW8Mbonk just hours after i tweeted that it had received zero acknowledgement from them
and it wasn't just the official page
@toly himself acknowledged it
those who know me know i have a very soft spot for solana:Dz9mQ9NzkBcCsuGPFJ3r1bS4wgqKMHBPiVuniW8Mbonk
but i'm bullish on this move from Solana leadership for reasons that go far beyond my bags
it's about the message it sends
solana:Dz9mQ9NzkBcCsuGPFJ3r1bS4wgqKMHBPiVuniW8Mbonk is by far the best-performing new token to have launched on Solana since it went live
it deserves the acknowledgement!
Solana is obviously a decentralized blockchain
it doesn't need, and shouldn't try, to kingmake projects
but if projects and communities feel like they have a genuine & equal opportunity to receive recognition when they do well, more builders and trenchers are going to rally behind the chain
and that is VERY bullish for Solana
as i've consistently said throughout all of my criticisms of Solana:
my issue was NEVER the infrastructure or the technology
Solana has some of the best infrastructure in crypto and one of the strongest network effects we've seen in this space
they've also provably scaled and battle-tested an absolutely insane amount of traffic in an incredibly short period of time
i mean, nothing beats the traffic from U.S. president launching a coin on your chain π
my issue has always been the culture
specifically, how extractors seemed to have a chokehold on the Solana trenches to the detriment of users
but Solana leadership now seems to be responding to that criticism by getting into the trenches themselves and actively working to fix things one by one
and THAT is what is changing my mind
as for the thesis i wrote last week that was extremely bearish on Solana relative to RH & BNB Chain:
i've chosen to send it to Solana first before publishing it publicly
for a few reasons:
- i'm seeing changes that make me more optimistic than i was when i wrote it
- this makes me feel that there might be things being worked on that i'm unaware of, and i'd hate to be biased against them without having this context
- i might have some ideas that could help Solana maintain its edge, and since they reached out to me, i figured i should share them first
- if i do publish the thesis, i want to make sure i accurately represent the Solana side
because ultimately, my goal is to help my followers make the most money possible by identifying and positioning around the right trends
getting this wrong could cost both my followers and me
so yes, i still reserve the right to publish the thesis
and i probably will eventually
but if i do, it will be a much more balanced piece than the one i originally wrote
my Solana bias is changing
and i will keep you guys updated on my unbiased thoughts in due time!