Solana was in for a rough ride last year when FTX came crashing down. Much of the backing for the blockchain’s ecosystem came from “SBF” and his companies. Ever since, Solana has put up a fight, showing the world that it has indeed a vivid community, decentralized financial applications, and long-term goals that don’t depend on the support of anybody. While Solana is winning some of the battles that need to be fought, others are not going well recently. 

What is SolanaSpaces, and why is it shutting down only a few months after being started?

To touch and feel the blockchain

SolanaSpaces was meant to bring Solana and its blockchain technology to the masses by opening stores and getting visitors in touch with the tech. Only two stores were opened so far. One in Miami and the other one in New York, but both stores are closing down for good by the end of February. 

According to a statement on Twitter, the project managed to host over 75,000 visitors and onboard thousands of new people to Solana and Web3. Merchandise was also distributed and this is going to continue in different locations in both cities that are yet to be announced.

The reason for closing down the stores is yet a positive one. SolanaSpaces has been successful, but other ventures have proven to be more effective in terms of onboarding new users and strengthening the user base. 

The good work continues digitally

Instead of running the stores, the team behind SolanaSpaces will focus on DRiP. A virtual platform that airdrops digital art as NFTs weekly. According to the statement, DRiP onboards between 500 and 1,000 users per day. The stores, however, reap the same number of people within a week.

With these disproportionate numbers at hand, it seems pointless to continue the shops, and therefore the team will focus on DRiP instead. While it is a sad thing that both places are vanishing, it is good to hear that this is not the end of the attempt to get more people in touch with blockchain technology. 

Of course, SolanaSpaces primarily promoted Solana, but each time somebody gets introduced to a cryptocurrency, a new door is opened. At the end of the day, using Ethereum, Solana or Avalanche isn’t much of a difference from the perspective of user experience. Getting more people in touch with crypto is an important matter, and it is good to see that this mission is continued despite the obstacles for Solana.

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