2023: The Year of the Solana Community

Is it another Solana Solstice already? 2023 seemed to fly by — an eventful year marked by challenges and opportunities. And as the community looks back at another year, it’s important to remember how far we’ve come.

The beginning of 2023 was the depths of the coldest winters, a difficult time for people across the Solana ecosystem and the greater blockchain community. The Solana community not only stuck around, but doubled down.

An organic rallying cry, “only possible of Solana,” encapsulated the attitude of those who kept building. The Solana ecosystem may be the place where low fees and high throughput unlocks new use cases, sure, but it’s also the place where an engaged, vibrant, organic community leads above all. The highlights and victories from 2023 aren’t the work of any one team or any individual, but belong to the greater collective of builders, artists, leaders, and users that makes Solana Solana.

Solana belongs to you. From those of us at the Solana Foundation, thank you.

Here’s how you made 2023 the year of the Solana community.

A community-led resurgence
In December 2022, people started receiving something strange in their wallets: a token with a shiba inu logo. They got them for using Solana dApps and projects, for joining events, and being active participants in the Solana community.

One year later, Bonk mania has swept the web3 world.


The story of Bonk is the story of the Solana ecosystem’s renaissance in 2023 — and how it was led by the community. Plans that were laid months or years earlier began to bear fruit, and the people who stuck around and built during uncertain times became the new community leaders. After a year of building momentum, the Solana ecosystem took off once again.

For example, 2023 was the year Solana Mobile’s Saga came to market. Despite excitement around the initial announcement and launch, it wasn’t until excitement from the community exploded that the flagship web3-native mobile device sold out in December 2023.