Solana's Crypto Phone: "Don’t Buy It."
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Solana's Crypto Phone: "Don’t Buy It."
Is the SAGA a good narrative?
Introduction
SAGA
Marquees Brownlee’s SAGA Review
Crypto is Mobile
Why are crypto integrations on mobile necessary?
Solana Allstars
Conclusion
INTRODUCTION
The Solana SAGA is on everyone’s minds again. Marques Brownlee, YouTube’s biggest technology review creator with over 17 million subscribers reviewed the Solana phone last week. The review also sparked a debate on Twitter and caused a new wave of SAGA reviews by prominent crypto creators.
MARQUES BROWNLEE’S SAGA REVIEW
Marques Brownlee reviewed the Solana SAGA phone last week. The YouTube creator called SAGA a phone with no use for 99% of the people. His most positive comments were related to the phone materials and the OSOM privacy cable.
Although a considerably negative review, many pointed out that it was “fair” and urged the community and developers to fight for better standards and more attractive use cases for crypto adoption. Many creators pointed out that Marques did not talk about the most meaningful aspects of the phone: the crypto features like the SeedVault or smart contract interaction.
CRYPTO IS MOBILE
What the world is today is not what the world will be tomorrow. It is not easy to predict if Solana’s crypto phone will succeed, however, it is a certainty that countries will increasingly drive more crypto adoption, thus exposing more everyday people to its technology. As adoption accelerates, demand for crypto-friendly UI, technology and integrations increases. This is the rationale behind the creation of the Solana Mobile, SAGA. In addition, in most underdeveloped nations, citizens mainly use mobile instead of computers or tablets. Coincidently, populations with the most crypto adoption today, are from developing countries such as Nigeria, the Philippines and South Africa.
WHY ARE CRYPTO INTEGRATIONS ON MOBILE NECESSARY?
Mobile exploits and security threats have been on the rise in recent years. To mitigate these risks, users should follow security best practices, like using strong passwords, enabling two-factor authentication, keeping devices and apps updated, and being cautious on public Wi-Fi networks. Education about common mobile threats is also essential. Unfortunately, these measures may not be enough to keep users crypto safe. This is why innovations like SAGA’s seed vault are important as they bring an extra layer of security not accessible by the Android system.
Asian and African countries’ GDP is the fastest growing in the world, and data shows that growth will remain solid for the coming decades as their population gains broad access to better healthcare, technology and overall improved living conditions.
Cryptocurrencies offer a fast, secure, and inexpensive way to transfer money across borders which is particularly beneficial for Asians and Africans who work in other countries and send money home to their families.
Additionally, it could provide a way for small businesses to access funding without relying on traditional banks. All of these points put together means that crypto could have a significant positive impact on these regions and their economy, and because of this, many people are pushing for its use.
Crypto presents an excellent solution to many of the problems that many countries around the globe face, increasing the likelihood of adoption soaring in the next decade.
Solana sees this trend playing out and is pushing the SAGA narrative forward to gain market share in developing nations with high growth and crypto adoption.
SOLANA ALLSTARS
Step Finance launched Allstars in May 2023 and is expected to reach 5,000 active members and over 10 active cities by the end of the year.
Allstars is focused on creating communities in countries with high crypto adoption such as Nigeria and Turkey, which happen to be countries where most people have a mobile phone, but not a desktop computer. This initiative has the potential to boost Solana adoption and the mobile revolution of crypto.
CONCLUSION
Will the Solana SAGA reach mass adoption? The short answer is that nobody knows, however, it is important to understand that almost all innovations get put into question at first. A very well-known example of the disbelief around new technology comes from Apple’s mobile invention: the iPhone.
While most say that Marquees’s review is terrible for crypto and Solana, some say bad publicity is good publicity. What do you think?
Solana's Crypto Phone: "Don’t Buy It."
I legit considered a later model, but if its just another Android phone then uhhh hmmm lets see what gets cooked up down the line eh?
Let's step back a moment here. MKHD reviewed the phone. It's sold bugger all units as compared to the wider phone market and MKHD still reviewed it. It's a huge win in many ways.
Now did Marques miss the point? Yeah sure, but he's not deep in the weeds of crypto and that's good data. This phone is a hardware wallet AND a phone. It's at least 30% cheaper than buying those two things separately. Probably closer to 50%.
Though Marques is not totally uneducated when it comes to crypto. His point about the hardware wallet only servicing one chain was an excellent one. Solana is small compared to the wider ecosystem and the wider ecosystem is still a bit part player globally. It's the weakest part of the device IF you assume it's early adopters are crypto native.
The takeaway the Saga manufacturers and the SMS (Solana Mobile Stack) developers should be focusing on is the value of the hardware wallet as goes the apps it allows access to. They need to drive hard on the app usage part. The recent Solflare integration (via Snaps) with the largest wallet in the world, Metamask, is a great step forward. That it has been paired with a massive marketing campaign that is based on "quests" is even better.
But we need many many more of these.
The time for liquidity incentives should be drawing to a close. We need user onboarding incentives.