The Protocol: Is Solana’s Rebound The Real Thing?

CoinDesk
tech
reporter
Sam
Kessler
here,
filling
in
for
The
Protocol
editor
Brad
Keoun
while
he’s
off
for
the
holidays.

The
past
week
was
a
relatively
quiet
one
in
crypto
land,
with
the
New
Year
putting
a
relative
calm
on
some
trading
and
most
tech
development.
But
crypto
is
24/7,
and
you
might
have
missed
some
of
the
hacks,
updates,
and
regulatory
news
while
you
were
off
watching
the
fireworks.

In
this
week’s
edition
of
the
Protocol,
we’ll
tell
you
about
Ethereum
co-founder
Vitalik
Buterin’s
updated
roadmap
for
the
ecosystem,
which
zeroes
in
on
how
developers
might
be
able
to
address
the
chain’s
ongoing
speed
and
centralization
problems.
We’ll
also
talk
about
the
dramatic
rebound
of
Solana,
which
has
seen
a
huge
surge
in
activity
in
recent
months
following
its
cratering
during
the
last
crypto
crash.

On
behalf
of
Brad
and
the
rest
of
The
Protocol
team,
I
hope
you
had
a
happy
New
Year,
and
a
sincere
thanks
for
continuing
to
follow
along
with
us
in
2024.

This
article
is
featured
in
the
latest
issue
of


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Protocol,
our
weekly
newsletter
exploring
the
tech
behind
crypto,
one
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at
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time.


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SOLANA:
BOOM
TIMES
OR
BLIP?
Solana’s
SOL
token,
which
crashed
in
price
from
over
$200
in
2021
to
under
$10
in
2022,
has

buoyed
back
above
$100
in
recent
months,
making
it
one
one
the
biggest
beneficiaries
of
the
recent
crypto
market
surge.
The
Solana
blockchain
was
pilloried
last
cycle
for
its
close
ties
to
Sam
Bankman-Fried
and
its
spotty
track
record
of
network
outages.
SOL’s
latest
price
gains
have
been
viewed
by
some
as
a
signal
of
wider
confidence
in
the
ecosystem
–
an
indication
that
traders
see
sordid
company
and
performance
issues
as
problems
of
the
past.
But
the
gains
to
SOL
were
accelerated
in
large
part
by
auxiliary
memes
and
airdrops,
with
a
frenzy
towards
a
few
Solana-based
tokens
driving
much
of
the
hype.
The
biggest
winner
was
BONK,
a
meme
coin
that
has
lept
in
price
by
over
200%
in
the
past
30
days.
(A
funny
side-plot
to
the
BONK
boom
is
that
it
was
airdropped
to
owners
of
the
Solana
phone,
which
suffered
from
dismal
sales
until
people
realized
they
could
buy
it

to
nab
BONK
tokens,
which
were
for
a
time
worth
more
than
the
device
itself.)
Other
winners
included
Pyth,
a
Solana-focused
oracle
network
that
recently
launched
a
token;
and
Jito,
a
liquid-staking
service
whose
just-airdropped
JTO
token
marked
a
huge
payday
for
some
unsuspecting
users.
The
Solana
network
has
seen
some
technical
improvements
in
the
past
couple
of
years,
but,
as
is
often
the
case
in
the
world
of
blockchains,
it
remains
to
be
seen
whether
the
positive
market
developments
were
driven
by
genuine
adoption
of
the
speed-focused
blockchain
ecosystem,
or
by
traders
that
will
soon
leave
in
favor
of
other
buzzy
bets.

VITALIK
BUTERIN
UPDATES
ETHEREUM
ROADMAP:
Ethereum
co-founder
Vitalik
Buterin
released
an

updated
version
of
his
Ethereum
ecosystem
roadmap
last
weekend.
The
roadmap
is
used
as
a
rough
guiding
post
and
progress
tracker
for
the
overall
development
of
the
Ethereum
ecosystem,
and
this
year’s
update
gave
a
glimpse
into
how
Buterin
thinks
the
second-most
valuable
blockchain
ecosystem
might
be
able
to
address
two
of
its
biggest
challenges:
speed
and
centralization.
In
an

X
thread
documenting
some
of
the
main
changes
to
the
roadmap,
Buterin
underscored
the
rising
importance
of

single
slot
finality,
which
he
endorsed
as
“the
easiest
path
to
resolving
a
lot
of
the
Ethereum
Proof-of-Stake
design’s
current
weaknesses.”
The
concept
refers
to
a
set
of
changes
that
would
cut
down
on
the
time
it
takes
for
transactions
to
get
cemented
onto
the
Ethereum
ledger
(transactions
today
don’t
get
finalized
for

64-95
“slots,”
equating
to
around
15
minutes.)
Buterin’s
new
roadmap
also
widens
the
scope
of
“The
Scourge,”
which
is
a
bucket
of
upgrades
aimed
at
surmounting
some
of
Ethereum’s
centralization
risks.
Buterin’s
previous
definition
of
The
Scourge
focused
specifically
on
problems
with
MEV
extraction,
but
the
new
one
focuses
on
“fighting
economic
centralization
in
PoS
in
general,”
and
it’s
been
expanded
to
specifically
address
issues
around
pooled
staking.

Highlighting
blockchain
tech
upgrades
and
developments.

1.
Particle
Network,

describing
itself
as
the
“intent-centric
modular
access
layer
of
Web3,”

unveiled
“BTC
Connect,”
claiming
it’s
“the
first-ever
account
abstraction
protocol
for
Bitcoin.”
According
to
the
team:
“BTC
Connect
harnesses
ERC-4337
design
and
L2
EVM-compatible
chains
to
introduce
a
Smart
Account,
Paymaster,
Bundler
and
a
unique
Bitcoin-specific
Modal.”

2.
KuCoin,
a
Seychelles-based
crypto
exchange,
said
its
KuCoin
Labs
unit
has
invested
in
ISSP,
to
support
the
development
of
its
“ground-breaking
inscription
protocol,
which
operates
on
the
cutting-edge
Sui
network,”
according
to
a

press
release.

3.
Fountain,
a
podcast
app
powered
by
the
Bitcoin
Lightning
Network,
has
“launched
its
biggest

design
and
user
experience
upgrade
to
date,”
co-founder
Nick
Malster
told
Protocol
Village.
“It’s
now
easier
than
ever
before
to
support
your
favorite
podcasts,
discover
new
ones
through
social
features
like
clips
and
playlists,
as
well
as
earn
bitcoin

(BTC)
for
listening
and
sharing
the
best
content.
Strike
users
can
also
now
connect
their
Strike
account
with
their
Fountain
wallet.”

4.
Waterfall
Network,
a
layer-1
blockchain
based
on
“Directed
Acyclic
Graphs”
or
DAG
technology
for
fast-finality
proof-of-stake
consensus,

launched
Testnet
8,
“representing
the
latest
version
of
the
protocol
with
optimizations
and
fixed
bugs
allowing
the
network
to
achieve
loads
of
10,000+
transactions
per
second.”

5.
Amboss,
a
data
analytics
provider
for
the
Bitcoin
Lightning
Network,
launched
“Ghost
Addresses,
which
empower
users
to
seamlessly
receive
payments
into
self-custody
without
reliance
on
the
centralized
wallet
intermediaries
that
have
dominated
usage
to-date,”
according
to
the
team.

See
the
entire
Protocol
Village
list
from
this
past
week
here.

Data
and
tokens

Regulatory
and
Policy