Solana Adds ‘Blinks’ and ‘Actions’ So Users Can Trade Crypto On Their Favorite Social Apps

The
Solana
blockchain
has
been
the
epicenter
of
crypto’s
latest
“meme
coin”
frenzy,
and
a
new
set
of
features
for
the
chain
–
so-called

Actions
and
Blinks
–
could
help
make
meme
coins
and
other
buzzy
blockchain
trends
accessible
to
a
wider
audience.

Developed
by
the
Solana
Foundation
in
partnership
with
the
Solana
development
shop
Dialect,
Blinks
and
Actions
allow
people
to
transact
on
blockchains
directly
from
within
the
websites
and
social
platforms
they
use
every
day.

“Solana
Actions
allow
users
to
execute
on-chain
transactions
across
various
platforms,
including
websites,
social
media
and
physical
QR
codes,”
the
Solana
Foundation
explained
in
a
statement
to
CoinDesk.
“Actions
make
it
simple
for
developers
to
integrate
everything
you
can
do
in
the
Solana
ecosystem
right
into
their
applications.”

The
tech
will
be
supported
by
popular
Solana
wallets
like

Phantom
and

Backpack
right
out
of
the
gate,
and
other
platforms
will
be
able
to
integrate
it
by
following
implementation
instructions
in
the
chain’s
developer
docs.

Meme
coin
traders
buy
and
sell
digital
assets
fashioned
after
everything
from
old-school
internet
memes
to
political
figures.
Solana
has
been
the
biggest
hub
for
meme
coins
lately,
serving
as
the
home
for
such
assets
as
Australian
rapper
Iggy
Azalea’s
viral

Mother
token
($MOTHER),
which
sits
at
a
$70
million
market
cap
less
than
a
month
out
from
its
June
launch,
and
dogwifhat
($WIF),
the
breakout
star
of
the
2024
meme
coin
craze,
which
boasts
a
market
cap
above
$2
billion.

Although
meme
coins
have
many
naysayers
(meme
coin
trading
sometimes
resembles
gambling
more
than
it
does
investing),
some
crypto
advocates
think
the
hype
around
them
could
help
carry
blockchains
further
into
the
mainstream.

But
for
blockchains
to
become
ubiquitous,
the
tech
underlying
them
desperately
needs
an
upgrade.
Complicated
wallet
software
and
hard-to-navigate
trading
platforms
continue
to
make
meme
coin
trading—and
crypto
trading
in
general—hard
to
access
for
newcomers.

That’s
where
Solana’s
new
features
come
in.

“Actions
and
blinks
on
Solana
allow
any
website
and
application
on
the
internet
to
be
a
distribution
point
for
on-chain
interactions
–
furthering
the
goal
of
mainstream
adoption,”
said
Jon
Wong,
the
Solana
Foundation’s
head
of
ecosystem
engineering.

For
example,
a
person
could
embed
an
“action”
into
an
X
post
that
references
a
particular
memecoin.
Users
who
see
the
post
could
click
on
it
and
immediately
initiate
a
transaction
on
Solana,
adding
the
token
to
their
own
blockchain
wallet.
Users
can
also
use
“blinks”
(a
portmanteau
of
“blockchain”
and
“link”)
to
share
actions
from
other
users
with
their
own
followings.

“From
your
X
feed,
you
can
buy
an
NFT,
tip
a
creator,
receive
money,
vote,
stake,
swap,
and
so
much
more.”
says
Chris
Osborn,
founder
of
Dialect.

Accessibility
has
long
been
blockchain’s
Achilles
heel,
and
the
new
Solana
features
follow
similar
moves
from
other
ecosystems.

Blinks
and
actions
share
a
close
resemblance,
for
instance,
to
Farcaster
–
the
X-like
social
platform
on
Coinbase’s
Base
blockchain.
Farcaster
users
can
easily
embed
direct
links
to
blockchain
assets
in
their
posts,
and
specialized
Fascaster

clients
like
Kiosk
–
an
up-and-coming
utility
from
the
creators
of
Web3
publishing
platform
Mirror
–
make
blink-like
calls-to-action
a
core
selling
point.

Farcaster,
Kiosk
and
Solana
are
all
clearly
motivated
by
the
fact
that
social
media
platforms
are
at
the
forefront
of
crypto
culture—where
users
go
to
exchange
memes,
news
and
trading
opportunities.
Solana’s
tech
differs
in
that
it
plugs
blockchain
functionality
into
existing
Web2
social
apps
rather
than
new,
standalone
Web3
apps.

“This
makes
so
much
sense
in
a
social
media
feed,”
Osborn
told
CoinDesk,
but
the
Dialect
founder
hopes
Actions
could
eventually
disrupt
how
the
web
works
at
its
very
core.

“Delivering
these
actions
into
feeds
like
X,
Reddit,
maybe
Discord
soon
–
these
other
platforms
where
people
want
to
have
these
Actions
experiences
–
is
just
the
beginning,”
said
Osborn.
“What
I’m
really
excited
about
is,
what’s
the
non-skeuomorphic
true
‘Web3’
internet
equivalent
of
this?
We
don’t
know
what
that
is,
but
I
think
this
idea
of
actions
is
what’s
at
the
core.”