Solana, an alternative blockchain, has launched a real-world, brick-and-mortar store in New York City. The store opened on June 28 in Manhattan’s high-end Hudson Yards shopping mall.
Founded by the Solana Foundation and maintained by the SolanaSpaces project, the store bills itself as the first retail and educational store dedicated to Web3.
The venue’s primary focus is to educate and introduce people who are brand new to Web3 and the Solana blockchain. But it will also offer IRL merchandise and paraphernalia and serve as a gallery space to showcase some of the best Solana-based NFTs, like the Degenerative Ape Academy — a partner for the project.
Furthermore, there are also tutorial pods to educate customers about all things Solana. Some of the pods cover how to trade NFTs on Magic Eden (the #1 Solana NFT marketplace), set up a Phantom wallet, and navigate the STEPN ecosystem. Store items can be purchased with crypto using the Solanapay system.
Vibhu Norby, the CEO of Solana Spaces, said the store could introduce up to 100,000 people a month to the Solana blockchain and its native cryptocurrency SOL.
Solana is Having a Big Year Despite the Rough Market
Despite the drop in price of its cryptocurrency SOL, which has been affected by the bearish crypto market, Solana is still managing to have a breakout year. At Rarity Sniper, we write regularly about new Solana-based projects, investments, and other news from the company. Here are three of the most interesting headlines about Solana this year.
At NFT.NYC in June, the co-founder of Solana announced that the company was developing a Web3 smartphone called Saga. The mobile phone will have several Web3 features, including a Web3 app store, a “seed vault” to store seed phrases safely, and Solana Pay, which facilitates QR-code blockchain payments. It will also contain a developer kit for Web3 programs called Solana Mobile Stack.
Around the same time, Solana announced it was investing $100 million in South Korea’s emerging Web3 market. Most of the money will go toward South Korean companies developing video games on the blockchain. Solana didn’t mention which startups it was considering, but its focus will be on the metaverse, NFTs, and play-to-earn (P2E) games.
Lastly, in what was big news for Solana NFT fans, the leading NFT marketplace OpenSea introduced a Solana launchpad a few weeks ago. The new launchpad allows Solana NFT creators to build NFT projects from start to finish.
Nobody knows how much longer crypto prices will remain low, but Solana has certainly been making the most of this bear market. We’ll be keeping our eye for new projects and possibly more brick and mortar Solana stores opening in the future.