Howdy!

I am on a dopamine come down after my Solana founder survey went a bit viral on Crypto Twitter over the weekend. Time to start crafting my next big X post.

For today, we’ve got new Solana products and an update to one of our newsletter’s most beloved sections:

Seeker, Firedancer, and the Solana products launching in 2025

If Solana investors look up from their AI coins, they’ll see a few interesting products slated to launch this year.

Shipping dates can always be delayed of course, but as of now, 2025 is poised to deliver a slew of Solana product launches. Solana Mobile’s Seeker phone tops the list along with the full version of Jump Crypto’s Firedancer client. DePINs, crypto wearable tech, and Jito’s restaking platform are also noteworthy areas expecting new launches. 

The most interesting product launch to watch in this newsletter writer’s opinion will be the Solana Seeker, which is the second mobile phone created by Solana Mobile. The new phone is expected in mid-2025.

Solana Mobile is being built under Solana Labs, which is the original Solana development company where co-founders Anatoly Yakovenko and Raj Gokal are still employed. Perhaps by virtue of its bona fides, Seeker has drawn several dozen Solana teams to its so-called dapp store. 

Seeker orders will partly be driven by interest in token airdrops associated with the phone, which proved to be quite lucrative for the last Solana phone. When we last spoke in October, Solana Mobile general manager Emmett Hollyer said the Seeker, currently priced at $500, had garnered 145,000 pre-orders.

A close second to Seeker’s hype could be the full rollout of Firedancer, a Solana validator client being built from the ground up by Jump Crypto. Firedancer is software Solana network validators can run to process transactions and build the blockchain — and it has been spoken of in hallowed terms by Solana faithful since its development began in 2022. 

Firedancer was revealed to have gone live during the Solana Breakpoint conference in September of 2024, but it currently only runs in non-voting mode, meaning the client still essentially comes with training wheels attached. Nobody really knows if or when Firedancer could go fully live, and the team doesn’t do much press. The client's GitHub repository shows two code commits related to vote transactions over the past month.

Despite a slight apparent dropoff in DePIN interest from crypto’s chattering class, there’s one Solana DePIN launch I have my eyes on for this year. DAWN, a darling of crypto venture that aims to be a decentralized internet service provider, is slated to launch on mainnet in 2025. 

Speaking of sectors seeing declining interest amid the AI explosion, Jito’s restaking platform should launch in around a month, a member of the team told me today.

And there’s one wild card to keep an eye on: fitness tech. Pulse, a Solana-connected fitness tracking bracelet, aims to ship products in Q1. A second iteration of Cudis’ Solana smart ring just began shipping in December (I will note, I had issues with my first Cudis ring rusting, although my second ring has been okay so far. Still, buyer beware).

— Jack Kubinec

Firedancer devs are still boogieing:

This is a chart of all-time code commits to the Firedancer GitHub repository. Firedancer’s builders appeared to take it a little slower over the holidays, but it was a busy last half of 2024, especially after a comparatively slow 2023.

Will all this work lead to voting-enabled Firedancer soon? That’s anyone’s guess.

— Jack Kubinec

ATTN: Change is in the air, Lightspeed readers!

This week, we’re testing a new chapter for this segment: The Alpha Dispatch, your trusted wire for sharp, actionable insights straight from Solana's vast frontier.

While The Pulse explored the social currents and cultural moments shaping the ecosystem, The Alpha Dispatch is here to deliver something different: bite-sized alpha to keep you dialed into unfolding narratives before they become common knowledge. Whether it’s emerging innovations, pivotal DAO decisions, or protocols quietly gaining momentum under the radar, this segment will keep you in step with the movements shaping tomorrow.

No frills, no fluff, no circular debates on Crypto Twitter — just concise updates that bring clarity to the ever-shifting currents of Solana's untamed future.

So keep a weather eye on the horizon and an ear to the ground for the Alpha Dispatch. END

— Jeffrey Albus

A message from Anthony Isaacson, founder of FXN: