What is Solana Blinks? Can it really drive mass adoption of Web3?

Let's first take a look at what Blinks is

Blinks, or Blockchain Links, is a technology that transforms on-chain operations into front-end pages and is one of the applications of Solana Actions.

Traditional Interaction vs Blinks

Traditional interaction requires users to first enter a website and then use a button to call a Web3 wallet for interaction. Blinks, on the other hand, allows users to skip the step of entering a webpage and perform on-chain operations directly through a link.

How Blinks Works

Operations consist of a URL scheme, GET routes, and POST routes to the operation provider:

• URL scheme for identifying the Actions Provider

• GET requests and responses sent to and from the operation URL, providing human-readable information to the client.

• POST requests and responses sent to and from the operation URL, used to construct transactions (and messages to be sent) for signing and submission to the blockchain.

(Diagram illustrating how Blinks works)

What Can Blinks Do

Currently, Blinks is in the social experiment stage and only supports the X platform (Twitter) plugin, but it is believed that more applications will emerge in the near future. Users can receive and process blockchain transaction requests in real-time on the X platform. For example, upon receiving a payment request or a smart contract signing request, users can complete it directly on Twitter without needing to switch to another platform.

Sharing Blinks on the X platform can quickly disseminate information about blockchain activities or applications, making Blinks a powerful tool for promoting "meme" projects. Most directly, due to the nature of Blinks, it has also become a rebate tool, with Raydium, one of the largest DEX platforms on the Solana network, already supporting a 1% rebate for all tokens through Blinks. Traditional rebate links usually require users to enter a webpage, which may disconnect from the user's on-chain behavior and timing, while Blinks reduces this disconnection, making the rebate process smoother and more efficient.

Raydium and Jupiter support Blinks

Let's take a look at the current applications of Blinks on the X platform

Voting / Prediction

Donations

Minting

Swap

Can Blinks Really Become a Killer App?

While enjoying convenience, security issues are also worth noting. In the Web3 environment, convenient payments may also mean a higher risk of scams. The officials have clearly considered this, so projects using Blinks need to pass the Dialect registry review to ensure that the projects are open-source. On one hand, more open-source projects will promote the prosperity of the Solana ecosystem; on the other hand, it is inevitable that new scams will emerge, and specific security issues need to be further explored in practice.

From the current development perspective, supporting only the X platform is far from enough, especially since the majority of X platform users are on mobile. If Blinks can truly be embedded in community platforms like Telegram and Discord, which contain a large number of Web2 users, and connect applications and wallets (referencing TON, which has broader applications than TON), it could become a killer app and bridge Web2 and Web3. As the official documentation states, "This enables the capability for on-chain interactions to be realized on any web interface that can display a URL," which would be the ultimate goal.

However, Blinks provides a more convenient payment method and is an innovative payment solution, undoubtedly worth trying. Currently, the main active platform for Web3, especially for memes, is also on X, so choosing X as the first stop is undoubtedly correct, as it can indeed stir up significant waves in the Solana network, which heavily focuses on memes. Connecting Blinks to the X platform is just the first step; what is even more exciting is the future development. The ultimate goal is for all platforms that can display links, QR codes, or even application notifications to support Solana network payments, so the potential of Blinks is enormous.

Imagine being able to invite your friends to play games through QR codes and links on WeChat, or make payments to your family for buying bubble tea. What would happen if everything that WeChat mini apps can do occurs in Web3? That is the revolution brought by Solana Blinks.

Through Solana Blinks, you can easily complete on-chain interactions on Twitter via QR codes and links, such as: sniping tokens, wallet signing, or initiating GameFi challenges and fundraising, without having to navigate through cumbersome links and wallet signing procedures.

The advantage of Ton Chain lies in its ability to smoothly bring Web2 users into the complex Web3 network through mini apps in communication software, but the carrier is limited to "Telegram." However, Solana Blinks is applicable to "any communication software," as long as it uses QR codes and links to open the bridge between Web2 and Web3. As a stimulus point for a bull market, Solana Blinks can completely ignite this wave of market frenzy.

(This article is written by the authors of MetaHub DAO, shared for learning purposes only, and does not constitute investment advice.)

How to Start Using Blinks on the X Platform?

Phantom, Backpack, and Solflare native wallets currently support Blinks, and you can also download the Dialect Blinks plugin.

1. Open the switch to recognize Blinks in the plugin

Here we use Phantom wallet as an example

Settings - Experimental Features - Solana Actions on X.com to enable

2. Directly enter the official website of the application that supports Blinks, copy the URL above, and publish it on the X platform

Here, the official MetaHub Twitter used the Jupiter URL as an example. When you turn on the wallet plugin and refresh the page, you will see the payment interface.

https://x.com/MetaHub_DAO/status/1807821940541083659

What Steps Do Developers Need to Take to Integrate Blinks?

1. Refer to the Solana Action documentation for code writing

2. Place the open-source code in the Dialect Github for review

There are also some reference codes in the Github example

3. Testing: Place your Blinks in the search bar at https://www.dial.to/ to see the application interface

Here we found more supported channels by placing the Blink published on the X platform after Dial.to. For example, Google via TipLink, which is a hosted wallet created through a Google account. One Google account corresponds to one wallet address, making it user-friendly for Web2 users and bringing us one step closer to connecting wallets and applications.

You can even create donation links directly with one click through TipLink

4. After confirming your Blinks, you need to register Blink.

After completing these steps, your Blinks application will be successfully integrated into the X platform, providing users with a convenient payment experience. Let's also look forward to more applications of Blinks!