🎉 Welcome to the Colosseum Codex!

Back in Issue #42, I shared the launch of Colosseum, a new Solana accelerator and venture fund that will be running Solana’s hackathons going forward, including the Renaissance Hackathon.

Today, I'm thrilled to announce that this newsletter is joining Colosseum and is now the Colosseum Codex!

This collaboration will bring benefits to Colosseum’s community and all Solana developers by providing valuable resources to support their development journey within the ecosystem.

You can still expect to receive all the latest industry news and trends, access to cutting-edge tools, and helpful resources that you receive in your inbox. In the future, you'll also get:

Community and Networking

Colosseum Codex will serve as a weekly update to highlight news from around the developer ecosystem, showcase hackathon projects, and share success stories happening on the Solana blockchain.

Inspiration and Motivation

By featuring innovative projects, emerging startups, and interviews with leading crypto founders, the newsletter will inspire readers to think creatively about their projects.

Exclusive Opportunities and Offers

Readers may receive exclusive access to discounts or services specifically for Solana developers, and other special offers that enhance their participation in hackathons.

Will this newsletter change?

No… but also yes!

While the name and branding will be aligned with Colosseum, the essence of the newsletter remains unchanged.

It will serve as a resource for Colosseum’s community and the broader Solana developer ecosystem, offering insights into the latest trends, technological advancements, and opportunities within the Solana ecosystem.

Colosseum has not put any strict restrictions on the type of content or news covered here! I will still have full editorial control of all the newsletter content.

As part of this collaboration, we'll be moving away from Beehiiv and onto the Colosseum platform. Your subscription will be migrated automatically when this move happens. You will not need to do anything to keep receiving the newsletter.

Thank you for being a part of this exciting new chapter! ❤️

🎒 Backpack Secures $17M in Series A

Backpack has successfully secured $17 million in a Series A funding round, giving it a valuation of $120 million.

Led by Placeholder VC, this round of funding also saw contributions from several strategic investors, including Hashed, Robot Ventures, Amber Group, Wintermute Ventures, Selini Capital, Delphi Digital, and distinguished founders from leading web3 ecosystems such as Solana, Tensor, Jito, Zeta, Marginfi, Drift, and Monad.

The capital will propel Backpack's efforts to expand globally and enhance its product offerings.

Beyond its exchange platform, Backpack distinguishes itself through a vibrant ecosystem built around its noncustodial wallet and the Mad Lads NFT collection, which has become a significant part of the Solana NFT landscape.

The success of these ventures, particularly the Mad Lads NFT collection, showcases Backpack's ability to blend technical innovation with strong community engagement.

As it continues to grow and innovate, Backpack is poised to become a pivotal player in defining the future of DeFi on the Solana platform.

Solana Veterans Raise $17M for Backpack Crypto Wallet, Exchange

🎒Anza Migrates Solana Validator Client to Agave Repo

Anza, a new development team formed by former executives and core engineers from Solana Labs, has announced the migration of the core Solana validator software to their own GitHub organization, establishing the Agave fork.

The Agave repository will serve as Anza's main hub for the Solana validator client development. This move is designed to spearhead the future development of the Solana validator client under Anza's guidance.

Anza has planned a several-month-long transition phase, during which they will mirror the original Solana Labs repository. This approach provides stability while embracing the new developments from Anza.

The initial releases of Agave will mirror the Solana Labs validator client versions, with a significant update planned for Summer 2024 when Agave v2.0 is released. This timeline allows for a gradual transition to the Agave client.

This approach also supports broader initiatives like the development of the Firedancer client by Jump Crypto. Anza plans to also build development tools and resources that benefit the entire developer community.

Developers are encouraged to engage, contribute, and stay updated with the latest developments through the Agave fork.

Anza will be joining the Solana Validator Community Call (March 14th) and the Solana Foundation Core Community Call (March 13th) to answer questions on the migration.

Learn more about the Solana Labs to Agave fork

💎 Solana Developer News

Encode x Solana Spring 2024 Bootcamp
This free, six-week course begins on March 25th and provides in-depth exploration of Solana, including its fundamentals, development tools, and applications. The bootcamp is designed to accommodate both beginners and experienced developers.

Introducing Wormhole Native Token Transfers
Wormhole has announced its Native Token Transfers (NTT) framework, which is designed to facilitate secure token transfers across blockchains while preserving the unique characteristics of each token. For developers on Solana, the NTT framework presents an opportunity to integrate with a multichain environment. This integration can enhance the reach, functionality, and user experience of their projects, all while ensuring security and flexibility.

Sunsetting Elusiv
In Issue #9, I shared the launch of Elusiv. The team has now announced that Elusiv will be sunsetted as the project moves forward with an “enhanced direction and vision”. Elusiv will serve as the foundation for a new initiative called MXEs. These are touted as a breakthrough in privacy and confidentiality, promising to unlock new use cases for developers on Solana.

BOLT Engine v0.1 is Live
BOLT is an on-chain framework specifically designed for the development of on-chain games. It leverages an SVM-compatible layer to ensure high performance and utilizes an Entity Component System (ECS) to achieve modularity and extensibility for game world objects. The BOLT CLI enables developers to effortlessly set up on-chain games on Solana, enhancing the composability and longevity of games on the blockchain.

🛠️ Tools & Resources

cnft-cli is a CLI tool using the latest Umi framework from Metaplex to handle minting and updating cNFTs on Solana.

das-api-testing is a DAS-API Testing Suite, designed to ensure DAS API response integrity by comparing it with other providers.

solana-web-starter is a Solana Web Starter Template built on React with React Router, Tailwind, DaisyUI, Fastify API, and Solana Wallet Adapter.

cnft-raffle-ui is a frontend example to interact with the Tombola cNFT raffle program and can be used by other developer's to create their own headless cNFT raffle app.

create-web3-rn-app is a React Native and Expo starter kit with essential essential configurations and dependencies, including MobileWalletAdaper support and TypeScript readiness, to kickstart your Web3 development.

solana-debugger is a plugin for JetBrain’s RustRover IDE that allows you to debug Solana Programs.

⚡Quick Hits

Renaissance Hackathon Developer Resources have been published - Colosseum

Solana Frames: Minting a cNFT on Farcaster - Helius

Superteam India Community Update: Feb 2024 - Superteam

Final numbers for Solana Scribes - @0xMert_

Ottr Finance sunsets wallet after being acquired by Worldcoin developer - Cryptonews

Ironforge adds RPC Node Security Settings - Ironforge

The inside story of the $JUP airdrop at Phantom - Phantom

Firedancer client will have plugins as “first class citizens” - @CantelopePeel

Why to raise on Stockpile (with Use Cases) - Stockpile

Riverguard: Fishing for Loss of Funds in the Stream of Solana Transactions - Riverguard

🎧 Listen to This

Cryptonews Podcast

In an exclusive interview with Cryptonews, Matty Taylor sat down with Cryptonews Podcast host Matt Zahab to discuss Colosseum, the independent organization he co-founded.

He talked about growing the Solana ecosystem, accelerating its adoption, and how the Solana Foundation hackathons help accomplish just that.

In this interview, Taylor discussed:

• Colosseum as a platform focused on growing, accelerating, and investing in the Solana ecosystem;

• Colosseum streamlining three pillars: hackathon, accelerator, and venture fund;

• Colosseum’s aim to onboard the next generation of on-chain developers and make decentralized technologies as ubiquitous as email;

• Bonk DAO making a first-of-its-kind investment in Colosseum to back ecosystem builders;

• hackathons as the backbone of the Solana developer community, attracting $600m in venture funding for the winners.

Matty Taylor, Co-founder of Colosseum, on Solana, Hackathons, and Growing the Solana Ecosystem

Thanks for reading ✌️

I hope you found something useful here! If you have any suggestions or feedback just let me know what you think.