According to BlockBeats, on September 27, Hardhat Chad, the founder of the Solana-based mining project Ore, announced on the X platform that Regolith Labs has launched Steel, a new modular framework designed for building smart contracts on Solana. Steel allows developers to create programs with minimal boilerplate code while offering flexible functionality options. The framework aims to enhance contract performance, simplify the development process, and contribute positively to the Solana community.

According to Odaily, analysts at CoinCodex predict that Solana (SOL) will continue trading at its current price at least until the first week of October. The platform forecasts a rebound for the asset after October 10, 2024, with a potential peak of $178.30 on October 25, 2024. This would represent an approximate 14% increase from its current level. CoinCodex does not anticipate SOL reaching $200 in October.

According to Blockworks, the debate over transactions per second (TPS) has intensified within the crypto community, particularly between Solana and Ethereum. Solana, known for its higher TPS compared to Ethereum, recently saw its high-performance client, Firedancer, developed by Jump Crypto, enter its testnet phase. Jump Crypto's chief scientist, Kevin Bowers, announced during a Solana Breakpoint talk that Firedancer achieved 1 million TPS in synthetic testing. This announcement sparked discussions on social media, with a crypto venture capitalist highlighting Solana's progress while contrasting it with Ethereum's ongoing debates. Namik Muduroglu, part of the founding team for the upcoming layer-2 solution MegaETH, shared a GitHub screenshot indicating that Solana's protocol is currently capped at around 81,000 TPS. Muduroglu also noted that MegaETH aims to have shorter block times than Solana, potentially processing transactions milliseconds faster. Solana supporters responded by stating that the 81,000 TPS limit is adjustable and criticized MegaETH for commenting on an existing blockchain while still being unreleased. TPS, which measures how many transactions a blockchain can process per second, is often used aspirationally. Firedancer's 1 million TPS was achieved in a testing environment without actual user transactions. Other unreleased blockchains like Monad and Layer N have also reported high TPS numbers in testing. Solana's TPS is influenced by whether

According to Blockworks, Sky, previously known as MakerDAO, is contemplating the deployment of its native tokens on the Solana blockchain. This move was detailed by co-founder Rune Christensen in a forum post. Christensen has shown a long-standing interest in Solana, even suggesting a shift to a fork of the Solana codebase last year. The timing appears strategic as Sky aims to increase the adoption of its decentralized stablecoins amidst Solana DeFi's recent growth. Sky, which launched as MakerDAO in 2015 and introduced the DAI stablecoin in 2017, has been a significant player in the DeFi space. DAI, now rebranded as USDS, remains the third-largest stablecoin by market capitalization, following USDT and USDC. Sky's peg stability module, which helps maintain USDS' peg by taking in USDC and issuing USDS, is its most-used product. Additionally, locking DAI in Sky’s Spark protocol to receive elevated yields via sDAI (now sUSDS) is also popular. To expand the PSM and Spark, Sky is now looking to Solana, where it plans to launch USDS and yield-bearing sUSDS. Initially, the deployment will occur via the Wormhole bridge as Sky prepares for Solana SkyLink, a native launch of Sky on Solana. Solana is seen as a promising venue for stablecoins, with a stablecoin market capitalization that is 68% USDC, according to DeFiLlama. This dominance was previously higher before PayPal’s PYUSD stablecoin began a Solana liquidity incentive program. Sky intends to follow a similar path to PYUSD, with Christensen mentioning a liquidity incentive program to make USDS and sUSDS liquid on decentralized exchanges. This program could resemble PYUSD’s incentives in the short term, but once SkyLink is operational, the stablecoin will offer additional features. Christensen highlighted that Solana is a growing DeFi ecosystem lacking a major decentralized stablecoin with built-in rewards.

According to Foresight News, Jupiter has announced the launch of its Metropolis API platform. This new platform is designed to support liquidity applications on the Solana blockchain. The Metropolis API platform includes several key components such as token APIs, price APIs, and swap APIs. These APIs aim to enhance the functionality and efficiency of liquidity applications operating within the Solana ecosystem.

According to Foresight News, data from DefiLlama indicates that the 24-hour trading volume on Solana's decentralized exchanges (DEX) has reached $1.13 billion. This figure surpasses Ethereum's 24-hour trading volume of $1.118 billion, placing Solana in the top position.

According to Foresight News, Solana's staking project Jito has proposed an improvement plan for the phased deployment of its restaking module. If approved, the Jito Foundation will transfer the deployed instances of the protocol to Jito DAO in three stages. The first stage, known as the migration phase, will allow users to transfer their assets to the Vault Restake Token (VRT) vault. This phase aims to facilitate the smooth transition of assets into the new system. The second stage, the staking phase, will enable the Node Consensus Network (NCN) to launch and implement most of the core functions of the protocol. This phase is crucial for establishing the operational framework and ensuring the protocol's core functionalities are active. The final stage, the forfeiture phase, will allow the NCN to activate forfeiture. This phase is designed to ensure that the network can enforce penalties and maintain security and integrity. The successful implementation of these stages is expected to enhance the overall efficiency and security of the Jito protocol within the Solana ecosystem.

According to Odaily, data from Artemis reveals that Solana has experienced a net inflow of $988 million over the past three months. This amount surpasses the combined net inflows of all other blockchain networks during the same period.

According to Odaily, Solana co-founder Raj Gokal shared on the X platform that he and fellow co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko have developed two new ideas following their annual Breakpoint event. Gokal mentioned that after each Breakpoint, he and Yakovenko usually retreat to a hotel room to exchange thoughts while inebriated. This year, they have identified two concepts that have been in development for several years and are now ready to be unveiled. Gokal urged the community to stay tuned for these upcoming innovations.

According to Blockworks, Anza engineer Tao Zhu has proposed a significant amendment to the Solana protocol aimed at enhancing the efficiency of Solana blocks. The proposal, detailed in Solana Improvement Document (SIMD) 0172, targets the current 'compute budget' program, which was initially implemented to prevent computational waste. Zhu argues that this program results in inefficient use of Solana blockspace. The compute budget is a line of code that determines the number of compute units (CUs) a transaction can use. Different transactions require varying amounts of CUs, and to avoid wasteful transactions, Solana sets a default limit of 200,000 CUs per transaction. Each Solana block can contain a maximum of 48 million CUs, with 200,000 CUs reserved for transactions with the default compute budget. Zhu believes this default is often an overestimation, leading to reserved but unused space within blocks. Zhu's proposal suggests reducing the default compute budget from 200,000 CUs to zero over 10 epochs, or approximately 20 days. This change would require transaction creators to request a more precise compute budget, allowing the 48 million CUs in a Solana block to accommodate more transactions. This adjustment could result in increased fees paid to validators, who have faced challenges recently. However, not all Solana developers agree with Zhu's proposed fix. Some argue that even with a default compute budget of zero, transactions would still need to include compute budget instructions, which count against the maximum data limit of 1232 bytes per transaction. These instructions currently occupy about 4% of the total data limit. Some developers suggest moving the compute budget to the transaction header, which is separate from the instructions and could take up fewer bytes. Zhu has mentioned the possibility of eliminating the compute budget program entirely in the future, but this is not part of the current proposal. The debate continues among Solana developers, with some expressing concerns that an interim fix could complicate matters further for developers. Despite differing opinions, the proposed changes aim to optimize Solana's block efficiency and improve the overall performance of the network.

According to Foresight News, Layer3, a distribution, identity, and incentive infrastructure, has announced its expansion to the Solana network in October. The move aims to create a consumer distribution layer for Solana protocols. Layer3 on Solana will be a completely new and independent platform featuring a new design and new leaderboards. The L3 token will be available on Solana through Wormhole. Several projects, including Drift Protocol, Jupiter Exchange, and Magic Eden, have confirmed their participation on Layer3.

According to Odaily, Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko recently shared his perspective on the X platform, likening the Solana ecosystem to a decentralized and distributed version of Y Combinator. Yakovenko highlighted that the Solana ecosystem is characterized by 'founders rather than developers,' 'startups rather than projects,' and 'engineering rather than research.' Yakovenko acknowledged that the decentralized nature of the Solana ecosystem leads to communication inefficiencies. He suggested engaging with multiple entities within the ecosystem, including Solana Labs, Anza, Solana Foundation, Helius, Metaplex, Colosseum, Jito, and Triton, to improve communication and collaboration.

According to BlockBeats, pre-orders for Play Solana's first-generation handheld game console, PSG1, are now available as of September 24. The console is priced starting at $199 and is limited to Play Solana NFT holders. This follows an earlier announcement on September 20, where Play Solana revealed the launch of the Solana-based handheld game console PSG1. The console will feature a built-in Solana wallet, and Player 1 NFT holders will receive priority pre-order discounts.

According to Foresight News, Metaplex, a digital economy platform within the Solana ecosystem, has announced the launch of Metaplex Aura, a decentralized indexing and data availability network designed for Solana and the Solana Virtual Machine (SVM). The Metaplex Aura network comprises three main components: data availability for digital assets, enhanced Digital Asset Standard (DAS) API, and resilient state management. These features aim to benefit users and developers by ensuring decentralized data storage and retrieval, providing high-performance indexing across Solana and SVM, and allowing developers and applications to transition assets between SVM account space and various levels of state compression as needed. The Aura network is now live on both the mainnet and devnet, supported by the MPLX token. Aura nodes can handle read requests from public gateways, contributing to improved network efficiency.

According to Odaily, Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko recently shared crucial survival tips for startups on the X platform. He emphasized that the primary reason for startup failure is running out of funds, and avoiding this can ensure the company's survival. Yakovenko warned entrepreneurs to be highly cautious of long-term contracts, such as office leases or data center agreements, as these are akin to debt. He advised keeping contract expenses below 20% of total expenditures, warning that exceeding this threshold is extremely risky. Yakovenko also highlighted that large teams can quickly deplete funds. He suggested that each employee should justify their value through profit or revenue. If a company has an 18-month cash reserve, it needs to achieve profitability or secure refinancing within 6-12 months. If profitability is not reached within six months, a 33% reduction in expenses may be necessary; after nine months, a 50% cut might be required. Given that contract expenses cannot be reduced, this could result in layoffs of 50% to 70%.

According to CoinDesk, Monday marked a slow start to the Asia trading week with Bitcoin (BTC) up 1.2% and Ethereum (ETH) up 2.6%. Solana's memecoin MOTHER, created by music star Iggy Azalea, saw a 4% increase following its strong presence at the Breakpoint conference in Singapore. ETH outperformed BTC in daily gains as Token 2049 and Solana's Breakpoint, two significant crypto conferences, concluded in Singapore. Despite these gains, both tokens remained relatively flat in a stagnant market. ETH is trading above $2,600, while BTC is trading above $63,700. The CoinDesk 20 (CD20), which measures the performance of the largest digital assets, is up less than 1%. Data from CoinGlass indicates that in the last 12 hours, more short positions than long positions have been liquidated, with $64.23 million in shorts and $54.42 million in longs being liquidated. Trading activity is light following last week's 50 basis points (bps) interest rate cut. BTC has risen 9.5% over the past week, while ETH has increased by over 16%. Polymarket bettors are divided on the likelihood of another rate cut, with 47% predicting a 50 bps cut and another 47% expecting a 25 bps cut. Solana (SOL), which was the focus of the Breakpoint conference, is trading above $145 and remains flat. Attendees were impressed with announcements from the protocol, including Jump Crypto's validator going live. Pendle, a portfolio company of Arthur Hayes' fund Maelstrom, is down over 6.5%. Traders are concerned that Maelstrom has reduced its position in the project after Hayes promoted it in Singapore. Hayes stated that the reduction was to gain liquidity for a