A Glance at Mainstream Projects on Solana

In our previous article, we discussed that Solana's rise was closely tied to the support it received from SBF, and it was hampered as the FTX fell. Additionally, it experienced instances of network outages. Nevertheless, as MakerDAO's founder said, Solana has survived, boasting an active on-chain developer community. According to DeFillama data, Solana ranks among the top 10 exchanges in terms of Total Value Locked (TVL). In this article, we will provide an overview of the major projects on Solana.

Major projects on Solana

Magic Eden

Magic Eden is a Web3-native, community-driven NFT marketplace developed based on Solana. It offers a comprehensive framework of NFT services, including an NFT trading platform, an NFT Launchpad, white-label solutions for NFT marketplaces, and a gaming hub called Eden Games. Currently, Magic Eden is the largest NFT marketplace on Solana, facilitating 90% of the trading volume for NFT games. As of March 2022, notable investors include Sequoia Capital, Paradigm, Greylock, and Solana Ventures.

Phantom

Phantom is a wallet application that supports browser extension, allowing users to manage their crypto assets and access DApps on the Solana blockchain. It has gained over 2 million downloads from the Chrome Web Store. Furthermore, it has expanded its support to Ethereum and Polygon, enabling users to manage everything within a single application. Phantom offers essential features for the Solana ecosystem, including token swaps, NFT collections, hardware wallet integration, non-monitorability, Web3.0 support, and the ability to stake SOL for rewards. As a result, it has become the preferred wallet for Solana users. The co-founders of Phantom include CEO Brandon Millman, CPO Chris Kalani, and CTO Francesco Agosti, all from 0x, a crypto infrastructure startup. Notable investors in Phantom include Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Variant Fund, Jump Capital, DeFi Alliance, Solana Foundation, and Garry Tan.

Marinade Finance

Marinade Finance is a liquidity staking protocol running on the Solana blockchain. Users receive liquidity tokens called "Marinade staked SOL" (mSOL) by staking SOL through Marinade Finance. These mSOL tokens can be used in DeFi secondary markets to maximize yields. MNDE, the native token of Marinade Finance, acts as the governance token for the ecosystem.

Solend

Solend is a Solana-based decentralized lending protocol that empowers a fast and low-cost lending platform. It once reached a peak TVL of $800 million but faced challenges due to a whale liquidation incident. Nevetheless, with the launch of Solend V2, its TVL has been steadily growing, securing its position as the leading lending protocol on Solana. Note: The crypto market's downturn in the first half of 2022 increased bad debt risk for Solend. On June 19, 2022, Solend initiated its governance proposal titled "SLND1: Mitigate Risk From Whale" in the community, aiming to raise the liquidation threshold for users with large collateral positions and take over a whale account with liquidation risk. However, the proposal concluded after just 5.5 hours of voting, drawing extensive criticism.

Orca

Orca is an Automated Market Maker (AMM) based decentralized exchange built on the Solana ecosystem. Following UniswapV3, Orca Whirlpools has become one of the few AMMs offering concentrated liquidity, powered by a user-friendly trading interface. Orca's co-founders, Yutaro Mori and Grace Kwan, lead a team that consists of many former employees from Amazon and Google. Its notable investors include Polychain, Placeholder, Three Arrows Capital, SinoGlobal, Coinbase Ventures, and Solana Capital. Note: Whirlpools are similar to UniswapV3's concentrated liquidity providing AMMs.

Raydium

Raydium is an Automated Market Maker (AMM) built on the Solana blockchain. By connecting the central order book on Serum, a decentralized exchange, it enables fast trading, shares liquidity within the ecosystem, and create new liquidity for mining. However, the collapse of FTX has posed a threat to the Serum protocol, which shares liquidity with Raydium. In December 2022, Raydium faced further challenges due to attacks on several of its liquidity pools.

Jupiter

Jupiter is a Solana-based aggregator routing across multiple Solana AMMs and CLOBs. It has recently integrated with SPL stake pools to mint LST tokens, like Jito. Jupiter offers a user-friendly experience, allowing users to set limit orders and establish time limits for buying and selling using DCA strategies.

Marginfi

Marginfi is a decentralized lending protocol on Solana, equipped with a suite of fully permissionless smart contracts, along with real-time risk management and automated liquidation. When combined with third-party protocols downstream and upstream, Marginfi enables users to integrate on-chain portfolios and access a wide range of DeFi services. Notable investors in Marginfi include Multicoin Capital, Pantera Capital, Sino Global Capital, and Solana Ventures.