So close… and yet so far. 😭

351 Days without downtime. Just 2 weeks shy of 1 year.

Once again, Solana validators were quick to upgrade to implement the fix and the network was back to normal after about 5 hours.

What happened? A bug in the way Solana deploys and upgrades programs using the Berkley Packet Filter (BPF) Loader.

Here’s a technical deep-dive into the actual cause if you’re interested:

Any downtime is never good, but Solana favors security over liveness.

There was the expected FUD on Crypto-Twitter (I didn’t see as many “Only Possible On Solana” jokes as I thought I would) but the $SOL price bounced back as quick as the network.

OK, let’s get to some better news…

👛Dynamic’s Embedded Wallets

An embedded wallet, also known as "Wallet as a Service" (WaaS), is a model where crypto wallet functionality is integrated into third-party applications, websites, or platforms. 

This enables the users to seamlessly manage, transfer, and store cryptocurrencies and digital assets without needing to use separate wallet software.

The Dynamic embedded wallet boasts several key features:

• Allows for email or social media login

• Creates non-custodial wallets for users

• Provide easy key export

• Allows developers to sponsor gas fees through tools like Octane.

This approach simplifies the onboarding process by addressing the issue of wallet creation, with Dynamic generating wallets on behalf of users.

Dynamic's offerings are robust, including a 'wallet adaptor on steroids', one-click generation of multi-chain wallets, multi-wallet and unified account functionalities, and a pre-generated wallet API. 

For those interested in exploring these new features and integrating them into their projects, Dynamic encourages checking out a complete demo of the Solana embedded wallets.

Introducing Solana Embedded Wallets

🧰 GameShift Goes Live

GameShift has officially exited the beta phase!

The public release of GameShift introduces crucial features that enhance the gaming experience for both developers and players:

Non-custodial Wallets: Ensuring that players have full control over their assets.

Asset Import: GameShift enables studios to seamlessly import external assets, including those from existing NFT collections, into their games.

Minting and Transferring of Game Assets: Allowing for the creation and movement of in-game assets on the blockchain.

Credit Card Payments: Enabling the purchase of in-game assets using traditional payment methods.

Dynamic NFTs: Supporting NFTs that can change based on in-game events or achievements.

Asset Lending: Facilitating the lending of in-game assets between players.

Marketplace Support with USDC: Offering a platform for the buying and selling of in-game assets using the USDC stablecoin.

The in-game NFT Marketplace is powered by Tensor. This allows developers to create branded in-game marketplaces for trading NFTs, and gets listings more visibility by being cross-posted on Tensor's primary marketplace.

Solana Makes It Easier to Launch Crypto Games With Built-In NFT Shops

💎 Solana Developer News

Request for Security Proposals
Solana Foundation is asking for proposals to drive development of open-source security tools for Solana. The three RFP categories are Pre-Deployment Program Analysis, Post-Deployment Monitoring Tooling, and Program Verification.

Emerging Trends and Development Challenges in Solana Ecosystem
I had a great time chatting with Justyna Osowska of Women in Blockchain Canada where we discussed the emerging trends and development challenges in the Solana Ecosystem. Check out the replay!

⚡Quick Hits

Token Extensions on Solana Panel Chat - YouTube

Solana Ecosystem January Update - @ph0rt0n

How to use the Non-transferable Token Extension - Solana

Create Token Extensions tokens using FluxBeam UI - FluxBeam

Hacking Success: The Insider's Guide for the Hackathons - Nazeeh Vahora

Historical Solana data now accessible in Google BigQuery - Google Cloud

⚙️ Tools & Resources

LightDAS is a light-weight version of the Metaplex DAS API that works as a listener and ingester for changes on Merkle Trees you specify.

Eject is a GUI tool that allows you to sweep a compromised wallet without having to load it up with SOL. It supports tokens transfers with a flat 5% fee, with suport for NFTs & airdrop claims coming soon.

cnft-spam-filter is an open-source, lightweight, and portable spam classifier for cNFTs on Solana with 96% accuracy that can run anywhere that WebAssembly runs.

awesome-solana-oss is a compilation of open-source Solana repos that serves as a place to get a gauge of the Solana open-source ecosystem, find potential projects to contribute to, and discover code to learn from.

Saganize is a Kotlin SDK that enables in-app transactions for Solana Mobile dApps, without the need to build a separate wallet infrastructure.

Solana Sync is a tool for managing attendees, engagement and POAPs at your next IRL technical workshop.

🎧 Listen to This

Lightspeed

Matty Taylor joins Lightspeed to discuss how Colosseum, the “Y-Combinator of Crypto”, will find, fund and accelerate Solana's next killer app.

In this episode, Matty shares why he is launching Colosseum, tactical tips for founders, why Solana is the best ecosystem to build applications, how to participate in Colosseum and Matty's #1 advice for discovering a startup idea.

How Colosseum Will Accelerate Solana's App Ecosystem | Matty Taylor

Thanks for reading ✌️

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