Solana (SOL), a layer 1 proof-of-stake blockchain, has launched model 1.16, which boosts person privateness via “Confidential Transfers.” This replace contains encrypted Solana Program Library (SPL) token transactions, guaranteeing confidentiality relatively than anonymity. 

The adoption of model 1.16 by Solana’s community of validators has reached a majority after ten months of growth and an audit by Halborn, a blockchain safety agency.

Solana Labs Rolls Out Privateness-Enhancing Replace

In keeping with the announcement made by Solana’s infrastructure supplier Helius, The replace has undergone rigorous testing, with v1.16 operating on testnet since June 7, 2023. 

Volunteer and canary nodes have reportedly performed an important function in figuring out and resolving points in the course of the testing section. Solana Labs has additionally deployed canary nodes on mainnet-beta to observe the steadiness of v1.16 underneath real-world situations.

Solana employs a function gate system to forestall consensus-breaking adjustments, guaranteeing that validators operating older variations don’t fork off the canonical chain. 

What’s extra, Consensus-breaking adjustments now require a Solana Enchancment Doc (SIMD) and larger transparency via documentation.

Confidential Transfers, launched by Token2022, make the most of zero-knowledge proofs to encrypt balances and transaction quantities of  SPL tokens, prioritizing person privateness. 

Trying forward, Solana Labs plans to undertake a extra agile launch cycle, focusing on smaller releases roughly each three months. 

Room For Progress

In keeping with a Nansen report, Solana has witnessed a major surge in its Complete Worth Locked (TVL) all through this 12 months, almost doubling because the starting of 2023, and at the moment boasting a TVL of 30.95 million SOL. 

Month-to-month transactions on the Solana community have remained comparatively secure, with a rise in vote transactions, encompassing each vote and non-vote transactions.

Moreover, Nansen highlights that Solana has applied progressive options resembling state compression and remoted payment markets to handle outstanding points inside its tech stack.

One notable answer, state compression, has considerably diminished the price of non-fungible token (NFT) minting on Solana greater than 2,000 occasions. 

 State Compression Unleashes Reasonably priced NFT Minting

As an example, the price of minting 1 million NFTs earlier than the introduction of state compression would have amounted to roughly $253,000. In distinction, with state compression enabled, the price is considerably diminished to simply $113. 

Compared, minting the same assortment dimension on Ethereum would value roughly $33.6 million, and on Polygon, it will quantity to round $32,800.

Moreover, the liquid staking panorama on Solana is experiencing fast development, with main platforms like Marinade Finance, Lido Finance, and Jito taking the forefront. 

Nevertheless, regardless of this development, the present quantity of staked SOL in Solana’s liquid staking protocols accounts for lower than 3% of the whole staked SOL, indicating substantial room for enlargement.

It’s price noting that the report by Nansen raises considerations in regards to the uncertainty surrounding FTX/Alameda’s SOL holdings, as FTX holds over 71.8 million SOL, representing roughly 17% of the circulating provide and 13% of the whole provide. 

Whereas this case might current short-term dangers to Solana’s development trajectory, it’s important to observe its impression intently.

However, the native token of the protocol, SOL, continues to exhibit substantial beneficial properties throughout all timeframes. The token is buying and selling at $23.68, reflecting a rise of over 4% prior to now 24 hours.

Featured picture from Shutterstock, chart from TradingView.com