Depending on who you talk to, our industry growing up is either doom or glory. We are finally globally relevant and that necessarily means we are less insular. Because this industry was created by the stubborn resolute and unwavering conviction of contrarians, misfits, and fringe actors, we relished in the pirate mindset. We loved our insularity. (Tbh, I miss it too at times). The “web3” thesis where programmable blockchains are supposed to be decentralized computing infrastructure for many apps ultimately incinerated billions of dollars of venture capital because it led tech minded builders and their investors to prioritize app sovereignty over unified liquidity. This was wrong on first principles. As it turns out, blockchain has and always will be financial infrastructure. Finance superpowered by tech and programmability. Decentralization, neutrality, and censorship resistance have never been more important. Whether this excites you going forward depends on whether you’re more west coast or east coast; San Francisco or New York; more tech or finance minded. From the west coast crowd, I often hear disappointment (“oh in the end blockchain is only about finance?! That’s it?”) I couldn’t be more excited, and I think the mandate has never been more clear and also attainable. Capital formation isn’t an abstract thing that bankers do when you are ready to IPO. Capital formation enables innovation. It allows us to take big bets on the future. Liquid markets enable capital formation. Over the long term, there can not be a larger global capital market than the internet capital market. The biggest market to possibly unify is that of people on the internet who use money. Like all things the internet has ever touched, the online/onchain experience is never the same as the pre internet experience. Just as we needed network engineers to imagine and build blockchain networks, we need consumer tech minds to complement finance minds to deliver new ways of accessing finance. This is not and has never been a small vision for blockchain. In fact, I would argue that it’s a core intent of a “peer to peer electronic cash network.” We welcome those who want to double down on finance for the internet to come join the Solana ecosystem and make good on this mission. I think it’s fine and even great that the risk-on talent from blockchain is now expanding new frontiers away from blockchain. New frontiers are only ever explored by those with stubborn resolute unwavering conviction.

Just like every company has its own server now, soon every company will have its own blockchain. @jinglejamOP explains:

Alpenglow goes live TODAY. Tomorrow is the first validator community call after it. On the agenda: → Updates from @anza_xyz, Firedancer, @jito, @doublezero → SIMD-605: enshrining local fee markets → Community Awards at Block Zero How to join 👇 hackmd.io/@KFEZk8oMTz6vBlwAD…

Alpenglow genesis block formed and the legacy TowerBFT is retired. Genesis slot: 459,653,000 Activation epoch: 1064 Validators participated: 654 Handoff time: 900ms explorer.solana.com/block/45…

30 days. Frontier Traders London Showdown Season 1 Grand Final November 14 🇬🇧

Alpenglow goes live on mainnet-beta next week on Oct 21, around 14:50 UTC. We’ve been running it on the community cluster since Genesis. See you on the other side. 🌞

When your transaction creates value, who gets a slice?

You can't have your customers and compete with your customers, too. 🍰

It’s time. Alpenglow goes live on mainnet-beta Wednesday, October 21, ~14:50 UTC. 18 months of work for a migration that happens in one slot. Finality drops from seconds to ~150ms. Make sure to follow us @anza_xyz as we countdown to go-live. Details: anza.xyz/alpenglow

Some of our delegators have been with us since the early epochs. Delegation is temporary, reputation is forever. To everyone who’s trusted us with their stake, whether you’re still here or not: thank you. 🌞

From vote inclusion bugs to identity compromises: A look at the operational challenges Solana validators faced this week.

Natural next question Has crypto made your life better? If so reply with how pls