Danny Nelson
Danny is CoinDesk's deputy business editor. He owns BTC, ETH and SOL.
Solana network is getting its own mobile phone: “Saga” an Android handset by the blockchain’s key stakeholder Solana Labs.
The upcoming device – a modified handset with specialty crypto wallet functions and the “Solana Mobile Stack (SMS)” software development kit for Web3 programs – was announced Thursday in a New York City event. It will cost around $1,000 and begin delivery in early 2023.
The phone marks Solana’s biggest bet yet on mobile-focused growth. It will feature a Web3 dapp store, integrated “Solana Pay” to facilitate QR code-based on-chain payments, a mobile wallet adapter and a “seed vault” that will store private keys deep within the recesses of the phone.
“We live our lives on our mobile devices – except for Web3 because there hasn’t been a mobile-centric approach to private key management,” Solan co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko said in a press release. “The Solana Mobile Stack shows a new path forward on Solana that is open source, secure, optimized for web3, and easy to use.”
Solana Foundation pledged $10 million toward spurring development of mobile apps on its SMS.
It’s not the first mobile Web3 gambit. Sirin Labs pursued plans in 2018 to ship a blockchain-native phone but faced layoffs and litigation as the product failed to gain traction.
Solana's Anatoly Yakovenko with a rendering of the Saga phone. (Danny Nelson/CoinDesk)
