Original title: Whats next for SOL?
Original author: Jack Kubinec
Original translation: zhouzhou, BlockBeats
Editors note: Solana Accelerate conference raises four unresolved issues: Firedancer client promotion is slow. Kraken frequently supports Solana and is expected to become its main exchange. Solana Mobile launches SKR token, raising compliance questions. The voice of doubt about Trump on the scene is rising, which may affect the political prospects of the crypto industry.
The following is the original content (for easier reading and understanding, the original content has been reorganized):
I spent much of last week shuttling between conference venues and events in New York City for the Solana Accelerate. Conferences like these tend to be a place where a lot of announcements are made, and Accelerate was no exception, bringing important updates on Solana core infrastructure, the Solana phone startup, tokenized stocks, and more.
As I said last week, changes are already happening. Competition is increasing, and some areas of the Solana ecosystem that were once sought after are beginning to lose their luster. To better understand these potential changes, here are the four issues that I am most concerned about after Accelerate:
How is Firedancer progressing?
Jump released Frankendancer last September, a “semi-finished” version of Firedancer that made some performance improvements to the Solana client. Earlier this year, it also began supporting the Jito bundle, allowing validators to perform MEV operations more efficiently.
Frankendancer currently only accounts for 6% of Solana’s total stake (up about 1% from last week). This Solana client project, which was developed from scratch, has been hyped for many years, but so far most validators do not seem to have adopted it.
One attendee told me privately that Jump and Solana may have hyped Firedancer too much and too early, and that perhaps a more low-key development and launch would be more effective.
A key driver for Frankendancer will likely be financial incentives: its developers announced a staking delegation program during the conference, similar to the one the Solana Foundation is running.
Is Kraken going to become the own exchange of the Solana ecosystem?
One of the big news from Accelerate is that Kraken has launched xStocks, a tokenized stock product including Apple, Tesla, and Nvidia, which will be traded on Solana in the future.
This means that global investors have a new way to invest in US stocks, but what is more noteworthy is that Kraken chose to launch on Solana. After all, Kraken also has its own Layer 2 blockchain Ink, which should be used first. But I guess they saw the commercial potential of the Solana ecosystem.
As an exchange headquartered in the United States and long under the shadow of Coinbase, Kraken may have noticed the lack of harmony between the Coinbase and Solana communities - for example, Coinbase will guide users to use Base.
Solana is the hottest blockchain ecosystem right now, and becoming the preferred exchange for Solana investors could be a big deal for Kraken. In the past few months, they have restored the staking function for US users, invested some funds in Solana’s treasury assets, and now launched tokenized stocks on Solana, which is obviously getting closer and closer.
What is the logic of the SKR token?
Solana Mobile, a mobile startup backed by Solana Labs, announced three major things at Accelerate:
a) The Seeker phone will be shipped in August;
b) Will adopt a decentralized architecture to challenge Android and iOS;
c) A token will be issued, codenamed SKR.
I was a little surprised by the news about this token. After all, Solana Labs has an office in New York, so it should be extra careful about compliance - and issuing coins can easily lead to legal trouble. Just look at the turmoil caused by the SECs classification of SOL as a security.
I guess Solana Labs (which is currently incubating Solana Mobile) believes that the current regulatory environment is more friendly, which may allow SKR to avoid too much regulatory pressure. They also know that the popularity of the last Solana mobile phone was largely due to token incentives.
As Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko keeps saying, breaking the App Store duopoly is not easy. Maybe SKR can help.
Are cracks beginning to appear in Trumps relationship with the crypto community?
During Accelerate, members of Solana’s newly established policy research organization, the Solana Policy Institute, also made a prominent appearance—they tried to expand Solana’s influence in political circles. Speaking of this, I noticed a political-related dynamic.
Veronica Irwin, a former Unchained reporter, wrote on X last week: “Congressman @RitchieTorres said at Accelerate, ‘We shouldn’t be selling access to Congress or the White House,’ and the whole audience applauded.”
She added: “I was surprised by the reaction from the audience — you rarely see people expressing disapproval of Trump at crypto conferences these days.”
But just last week, Trump held a dinner for his Solana MEME coin holders, sparking ethical controversy. Congress is currently advancing legislation on stablecoins and crypto market structure. If the Democratic Party begins to turn against the crypto industry because of Trump’s “profit-making” behavior, it will not be good for the entire ecosystem.
That being said, the SEC during the Trump administration dropped many cases against crypto companies. If I were to place a bet, I would say that combined with his recent pro-crypto stance, this relationship is likely to remain.
