Solana Mobile Stack begins new era of web3 with mobile-first Android platform

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Solana Mobile

23 Jun, 2022, 18:01 GMT

Secure custody of secret keys now a reality for mobile devices, paving way for seamless web3 transactions

Solana Foundation establishes a $10 million ecosystem fund to spur native mobile dApp development

NEW YORK, June 23, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Solana Mobile, a subsidiary of Solana Labs, debuted today Solana Mobile Stack, an open source software toolkit for Android enabling native Android web3 apps on Solana with the Seed Vault secure custody protocol that facilitates instant signing of transactions while keeping private keys partitioned from wallets, apps and the Android operating system.

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Solana Mobile Stack

"Developers have been blocked for too long from creating truly decentralized mobile apps because the existing gatekeeper model just doesn't work anymore," said Anatoly Yakovenko, co-founder of Solana. "We live our lives on our mobile devices – except for web3 because there hasn't been a mobile-centric approach to private key management. The Solana Mobile Stack shows a new path forward on Solana that is open source, secure, optimized for web3, and easy to use."

The Solana Mobile Stack (SMS) provides a new set of libraries for wallets and apps, allowing developers to create rich mobile experiences on Solana, the world's most performant blockchain, and is built to run alongside Android. The SDK provides libraries and programming interfaces for Android apps and secure key private storage, simplifying the developer experience to build and extend dApps functionality for Solana. The SDK is available starting today.

Solana Mobile Stack was introduced at an event in New York today, which also included the introduction of Saga, a flagship Android mobile phone with unique functionality and features tightly integrated with Solana, and is available now for pre-orders for delivery in early 2023 (read more here).

"Developers can now bring the power of Solana to the computers in our pockets, not just our backpacks," said Raj Gokal, co-founder of Solana. "Solana can revolutionize so much of what we do everyday, but we need to open the possibilities for decentralized apps on our mobile devices in order for this potential to be realized."

Initial features of the Solana Mobile Stack SDK include:

  • Mobile Wallet Adapter: A protocol for connecting web apps and native Android apps to wallets on mobile devices. The open source protocol is designed to support all mobile platforms, not just Android, and can work with wallet apps providing signing services to apps running remotely, such as other mobile devices, and on desktop or laptop computers.
      
  • Seed Vault: A secure environment built into a mobile device that keeps private keys, seed phrases and secrets separated from the application layer yet still capable of interacting with apps running on the device or in a mobile browser. Seed Vault accesses the highest privileged security environment available on a device, from secure operating modes of the processor to dedicated Secure Elements, which enables a secure transaction signing experience through UI components built into Android.
      
  • Solana Pay for Android: Solana Pay, a decentralized payments rail on Solana, is built into Solana Mobile Stack, providing wallet apps the ability to use the system features of Android devices to capture Solana Pay URLs via QR codes, NFC taps, messages, and web browser interactions to launch Solana Pay requests. In addition, instant virtual card issuance will allow users to make contactless-based mobile payments backed by their self-custodied funds via traditional payment rails at tens of millions of merchants across the globe.

Additionally, Solana dApp Store is a new app distribution system on Android for decentralized apps. The Solana dApp Store will provide a distribution channel for apps that want to establish direct relationships with their customers, allowing them to transact without platform fees. The Solana dApp Store will co-exist with Google Play on devices, providing access to web2 and web3 apps.

The Solana Mobile Stack and Solana dApp Store open up unexplored opportunities for devs to create new and better experiences. A few possibilities:

  • Minting an NFT anywhere, anytime is now a reality because secure transactions on a phone can be easily authorized thanks to the secure partition between a user's keys and the software and hardware levels of a phone.
  • Individuals can transact for goods and services with their securely held digital assets across millions of traditional contactless terminals as well as the growing decentralized Solana Pay payments network.
  • Play web3 games on Solana from anywhere, and keep funds safe and secure with Seed Vault.
  • Users can now manage trading risk while on the go more easily and effectively thanks to an improved user experience possible with native DeFi dApps.
  • Consumers can participate in token-gated mobile commerce experiences based on their digital assets and the secure communications between a wallet, Seed Vault, and a dApp.
  • Creators and developers can establish direct relationships with users through their dApps without intermediaries collecting data and extracting fees thanks to the distribution of the Solana dApp Store.

Demand for a mobile-first, open source, blockchain-based mobile development environment can be seen in the early supporters of the Solana Mobile Stack:

  • Coral co-founder Armani Ferrante: "Coral is a next-gen wallet where you can dynamically bring together and manage all of your digital assets, and now, by integrating with Solana Mobile Stack, we're enabling developers to build mobile-first experiences and, by releasing through the dapp store, we'll get to directly connect xNFTs to users, and run xNFTs on mobile."
  • Kiyomi / OpenEra co-founder Irvin Cardenas: "NFTs will become an integral part of our lives. In order for Web3 to reach the mainstream, we need to enable digital assets such as NFTs to be used in our daily lives with our mobile devices in ways that are more seamless, interactive, and engaging. But, most importantly, in ways that neither compromise on security nor bend to traditional intermediary business models. Solana Mobile Stack and especially Seed Vault shows not only that this is possible but also that this is a reality today."
  • Magic Eden CEO and co-founder Jack Lu: "We want to create the best mobile experiences for our users and are delighted that Solana's mobile stack will unlock new potential use cases. NFTs are becoming increasingly immersive—people talk about them and showcase them in their real lives. Interacting with NFTs should not occur in a vacuum on a laptop. The future is mobile. We're excited to support Solana's project with our Android app."
  • Okay Bears co-founder Kais: "Our Okay Bears community connects many hearts across the planet each day. Our members are incredibly diverse, and so are the devices they use. When designing our new products, we worked with Ikonick and Shopify to ensure a beautiful token-gated experience for all of our holders. We're excited about the Solana Mobile Stack, and its potential to help grow our Okay Bears message."
  • Orca co-founder Grace "Ori" Kwan: "Orca aims to be the most user-friendly trading experience in DeFi, and we see a huge opportunity to extend that to a new generation of users through mobile. The Solana Mobile stack, including the Seed Vault and Mobile Wallet Adapter, offers the speed, security, and responsiveness needed to make that dream a reality."
  • Phantom CEO and co-founder Brandon Millman: "As the leading web3 wallet on Solana, we prioritize creating clean, simple, and secure transaction flows. Solana Mobile Stack represents a big advancement for seed management and native transaction signing, both of which elevate the user experience on mobile."
  • StepN Chief Revenue Officer Mable Jiang: "Saga will enable a more open experience for users to interact with StepN from different non-custodial wallets. With Saga, our users could choose whichever frontend they want to trade on very seamlessly. Further, we're excited about creating new opportunities for our users with a richer mobile native experience made possible with Solana Mobile Stack."

To further accelerate development of native mobile dApps, Solana Foundation also announced today $10 million in ecosystem development grants for developers building on Solana Mobile Stack. The grants will help jumpstart a revolution that should have begun long ago but that is critical now if web3 is to advance beyond the desktop web browser.

For more information:

About Solana
Solana is a global state machine, and the world's most performant blockchain. It gives developers the confidence to build for the long term by delivering predictable scaling without compromising security or composability. Solana's performance is driven by a single global state, which is capable of processing tens of thousands of smart contracts at once, and by Proof of History, a distributed clock that unlocks low-latency, sub-second finality across the global state. To learn more, please visit https://solana.com.

About Solana Mobile
Solana Mobile is a mobile technology company developing the Solana Mobile Stack and Saga. It is a subsidiary of Solana Labs, a creator of open source software, and a contributor to Solana software and the Solana protocol. For more information, please visit https://solanamobile.com/. 

About Solana Foundation
The Solana Foundation has a mission to help support and grow the Solana network and its community while driving mass adoption for blockchain. Based in Switzerland, the Solana Foundation is working to realize a world where individuals own their data, use permissionless networks, and transfer information freely around the world. To get involved, please visit https://solana.org/.

CONTACT: Austin Federa, press@solana.com

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