Solana To Launch Crypto Smartphone, “Time To Go Mobile”

Solana Labs Co-Founder Anatoly Yakovenko announced a suite of products aimed at harvesting crypto’s potential to integrate with smartphones. According to an official post, the digital assets industry and this network have grown and support millions of users, but apparently, they rely on desktop applications.

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In that sense, Yakovenko believes it’s time for “crypto to go mobile”. The company will launch a smartphone called Saga by Q1, 2023, with a secure and native custody solution called Seed Vault, a Mobile Stack, a non-fungible token (NFT) based product called Saga Pass, and the Solana dApp Store.

The company behind the blockchain is supported by major players in the crypto space including crypto exchange FTX, Coral, Kiyomi/OpenEra, Magic Eden, Okay Bears, Orca, Phantom, StepN, and others.

Solana Versus Big Tech

Yakovenko believes that these products will enable developers to create applications and leverage new use cases, as well as advance mobile payment capabilities.

This could contribute to the development of Web3, the improvement of payment rails, and the removal of third parties from these processes. Yakovenko said:

Any one of these things would be an achievement, but together this is the start of a huge leap forward for crypto adoption on mobile (…). The opportunity right now is to build features and experiences that take advantage of a smoother ability to do web3 transactions on mobile, to carry digital assets around anywhere.

The Solana Mobile Stack and the other products have been in production for “less than a year”, the executive said. Yakovenko believes big tech companies, such as Google and Apple, have failed to provide the nascent industry with solutions to integrate crypto with mobile.

Furthermore, Yakovenko claims these companies have deliberately “blocked” crypto companies, developers, and projects, from materializing these solutions. In that sense, he said:

It’s time for web3 devs to start building for mobile usage instead of around mobile usage.

Solana Enters The Mobile Wave

In addition to the obstacles presented to Web3 and crypto developers from big tech, Solana is trying to provide them and users with native hardware and software and a native custody solution. Yakovenko claims the nascent industry is being used by “millions of people”, but the technology needs to advance in the mobile sector.

The Solana Labs co-founder added the following on the current limitations faced by crypto investors and what these new products will aim to resolve:

(…) every day, I hear stories of people leaving dinners, conferences, and vacations to get back to their computers and sign important transactions. The mints, trades, listings, and transfers critical to the daily life of crypto-lovers are dragging us away from our lives with others.

Data provided by Yakovenko claims there has been a 44% increase in the number of active users on this blockchain since December 2021. This metric stands at 2.3 million monthly users with a 169% spike in daily programs used over the same period.

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If the company can successfully establish a foothold in the mobile sector, these metrics could see another spike over the coming years. At the time of writing, SOL’s price trades at $38 with an 11% profit in the last 24 hours.