Web3 operations embedded in Web2 social media, will Blinks or pioneer the era of rebates on the Solana chain?

Author: Mia, ChainCatcher

Editor: Marco, ChainCatcher

On June 25, the Solana Foundation announced the launch of two new features, Solana Actions (transactions) and Solana Blinks (blockchain links), which will allow users to connect and send transactions without leaving the current website.

The Solana Foundation stated that by using Actions and Blinks, any website that can display a URL can utilize these new features. In other words, a single link can embed on-chain activities, including Mint and Swap, into social media, reminiscent of the Frames feature on Farcaster.

What are Blinks?

Blinks, short for Blockchain Links, is a collaboration between Dialect and Solana that allows developers to create "Actions" (previously known as "Solana Pay transactions"). Users only need to convert various interactions with Solana (such as voting, donating, minting, swapping, and paying) into action buttons on platform X via a link (URL), enabling direct operations on platform X without page redirection.

Blinks transforms Actions into shareable, metadata-rich links, simplifying distribution channels and user operation processes. Additionally, Actions and Blinks can be distributed through various formats, including links, QR codes, push notifications, and messaging applications.

Practical Operation of Blink

Currently, Phantom, Backpack, DEX Jupiter, and NFT platform Tensor all support Blinks.

Phantom shared a real-time example on its official social media, allowing users to purchase Bonk using SOL through Blink.

First, open the Phantom wallet and go to the settings option;

Select the Experimental Features option;

Choose to enable the Actions feature;

Once completed, refresh the browser to interact with Blinks on X.

Jupiter also shared a real-time example, allowing users to purchase Jupiter tokens using SOL through Blink.

Relying on Web2 for Outreach

When discussing "how to promote blockchain to a billion people," Jon Wong, the engineering lead at the Solana Foundation, stated, "We must meet users where they are—on their favorite apps and websites."

From the release of the Solana phone to relying on traditional social media for Blinks, Solana has consistently tried to leverage the existing reach of Web2 to facilitate the outreach of Web3 through links.

Currently, Blinks is widely viewed as a means to achieve further mass adoption of Solana. Solana co-founder Toly even regards Blinks as "a gateway to turning Web2 into Solana L2," stating that Blinks will use Solana as a backing for its economic security.

Many people compare Blinks to Farcaster's Frames, as both aim to make on-chain interactions more convenient and user-friendly.

However, while both allow for one-click embedding of on-chain operations in social media, Blinks has a broader social market and audience compared to Frames. The Frames framework is rooted solely in the Warpcaster Dapp, while Blinks is applicable to any application.

Strictly speaking, Blinks does not possess the strong social attributes of Farcaster; it relies more on the existing social coverage of Web2 for application-level interactions and development.

Blinks is more akin to TON, which first established social connections before introducing blockchain.

Just like Taobao and Douyin, Taobao uses universal links to acquire customers through Douyin, while Douyin leverages its user advantages to create its own Douyin Mall.

TON capitalizes on its mature Telegram platform to create natural user and application advantages, with its built-in TON wallet paired with various user-friendly Web3 Click Games, successfully integrating Web3 into Web2 social interactions.

Solana, on the other hand, relies on its mature on-chain operations and security as a backbone, using Blinks as a gateway to popularize on-chain operations in Web3 through broader Web2 social media channels like X, Instagram, and Discord.

More Innovations: DEX Rebates

While public focus on the Blinks feature remains largely on mass adoption and Web2 traffic generation, some users have begun to shift their attention to DEX link (URL) rebates.

As mentioned earlier, if we compare Solana to Taobao, Blinks provides rebate links for product promotion, while Web2 social media serves as the customer acquisition channel.

The founder of Solana ecosystem DEX Meteora recently demonstrated a memecoin rebate feature built on the Blinks functionality in a released video. When users trade memecoins through links generated by the Blinks feature on Meteora, the link creator will receive a portion of the promotional rebate.

The core of this rebate feature is built on Blink links, something that DEXs previously could not achieve independently.

Traditional DEXs struggle to identify user sources, making it difficult to determine rebate ownership. However, Blinks successfully resolves this issue by allowing users to interact with the blockchain through specific URLs.

In the cryptocurrency world, the spread and dissemination of FOMO are crucial for MEME hype, and Blinks addresses both of these core issues at once.

If, as the Meteora founder suggests, the DEX rebate mechanism is popularized and improved with the support of Blinks, then Blink is expected to bring new possibilities and opportunities to the entire Solana crypto ecosystem.