On June 25, 2024, Solana released their new features: Solana Actions and Blinks. With these features, users can interact more conveniently with the Solana blockchain. This article is a comprehensive guide to Solana Actions, helping you to fully understand Solana Actions.
1. What are Solana Actions?
According to the official Solana documentation, Solana Actions is an API that allows websites to interact with Solana for on-chain activities such as transfers, voting, and donations.
If you’re not a technical person, you may not fully understand what an API is.
Don’t worry, let me explain in simple terms: Solana Actions is like the backend system of a delivery company. This system is responsible for processing all orders, arranging routes, packaging goods, and ensuring their safe delivery.
For example, when you place an order online, the backend system of the delivery company (Solana Actions) processes your order, arranges for a delivery person to pick up the goods, packages them, and delivers them to your doorstep.
2. What are Blinks?
Blinks is a user interface consisting of graphical elements and buttons that we can directly see and interact with.
By clicking on these buttons, we can interact with the Solana blockchain. This is similar to shopping on an e-commerce website; you click a button and then confirm the payment.
Currently, it looks like this.
You can choose the transaction amount or input a custom amount. This is a test page, and you can see it on my Twitter: https://x.com/AndyCharle1994/status/1806120704041169190
3. Relationship and Difference Between Actions and Blinks
If you understand their definitions, it’s easy to grasp the difference between the two.
In simple terms, Solana Actions are the underlying code logic that ordinary users do not need to understand, while Blinks are the UI interface presented to users, through which users can engage in on-chain activities. With Blinks, many operations no longer need to be completed within a dApp, greatly simplifying the complexity of operations.
4. How to Enable Blinks Functionality?
If you want to experience or use Solana Blinks, you need to enable the relevant functionality in your wallet, and then you can use Blinks on Twitter.
Here are the methods to enable this feature in various wallets.
In the Phantom wallet: Click on Wallet – Click on Settings – Click on Experimental Features – Enable.
In the Backpack wallet:
Click on Settings – Click on Solana – Allow Solana Actions on X.
In the Solflare wallet:
Solflare does not currently support Blinks. To use the Solana Actions feature, you need to install the Dialect plugin and select Solflare in the plugin.
Dialect plugin download link: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/dialect-blinks/mhklkgpihchphohoiopkidjnbhdoilof
5. Applications of Solana Actions
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) trading: Users can directly trade tokens on decentralized exchange platforms (DEX) through Solana Actions, without leaving the current application or webpage.
NFT market: Users can buy, sell, or auction NFTs through Solana Actions, signing transactions directly in the wallet or website.
Payments and transfers: Users can quickly and inexpensively transfer SOL or other tokens using Solana Actions, without entering a dedicated payment application.
DAO governance: Community members can vote on DAO proposals through Solana Actions, directly operating in chatbots or websites.
In-game purchases: Game developers can integrate Solana Actions, allowing players to purchase items or upgrades within the game interface without leaving the game interface.
Subscription services: Users can subscribe to blockchain-based services, such as data access or membership clubs, through Solana Actions.
Charitable donations: Charitable organizations can use Solana Actions to accept cryptocurrency donations, simplifying the donation process and ensuring transparency.
Social media interactions: On social media platforms, users can use Solana Actions to tip, vote, or engage in other interactions, completing on-chain transactions directly on the platform.
6. FAQs about Solana Actions
Is Solana Actions secure? I’ve seen many users on Twitter expressing concerns about this issue, as Twitter often has various scam links that lead to user property losses.
Will the introduction of Solana Actions exacerbate this phenomenon?
I don’t think it’s necessary to worry about this issue.
Because if a website needs to enable the Solana Actions feature, they need to register and be audited in Dialect’s public registry.
After passing the audit, the vast majority of phishing links can be avoided.
Where can Solana Actions be used? Currently, Solana Actions can be used on Twitter. In the foreseeable future, they will be available on various websites.
As a developer, what resources are available to learn Solana Actions? You can learn from the following websites:
https://github.com/solana-developers/awesome-blinks?tab=readme-ov-file
https://docs.dialect.to/documentation
https://solana.com/docs/advanced/actions#rules
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIXEzhvX0u8
Currently, Solana Actions has just been launched. Quickly mastering this knowledge can enable you to develop some very cool applications. In any case, Solana Actions is indeed a very cool feature. It has just been launched, and I believe it will shine in the future.
