Best Solana Apps in 2024 (Potential Airdrops)

Looking to farm Solana Airdrops? Get started by purchasing SOL on Kraken!

In taking a look back on 2023 and forward into 2024, one of the top cryptocurrencies has been Solana (SOL). After a rough start to the year following the collapse of FTX, the project has had a strong rebound. SOL appreciated nearly 1,000% in 2023. its rise has brought unprecedented attention to the Solana chain. Because of this, many are hoping to find the next big project to make waves on the Solana chain.

What is Solana?

Established in 2017, Solana stands as an open-source blockchain platform enabling users to engage with decentralized applications (dApps) and smart contracts, facilitating the creation, transaction and interaction across the blockchain. With diverse use cases ranging from non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to music streaming, Solana offers a versatile ecosystem.

The platform is secured by a combination of proof-of-history (PoH) and proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus models. The PoH model is unique, empowering validators to validate transactions and generate a clock event, establishing a timestamp for each transaction. This innovative approach increases validator efficiency by processing reduced information in each block, which increases transaction speeds.

In terms of token supply, Solana's founders have a capped limit of 489 million tokens, with approximately 430 million tokens currently in circulation.

Airdrops on Solana’s Network: Jito, Jupiter and Pyth

Jito was one of the most hyped airdrops of 2023. The project allows users to add SOL tokens to a staking pool. This solved some of the issues surrounding defectors in the staking process. Users were eligible to receive the airdrop by either staking, validating, trading or searching. The minimum amount given was around 5,000 tokens and was worth more than $20,000 at one point. 

Jupiter is another interesting project on the Solana chain. It is primarily a decentralized exchange (DEX) but also offers perpetual futures contracts. This is a unique feature that offers more leverage to traders. The airdrop is set to go to users with at least $1,000 in transaction volume before Nov. 2, 2023. 

Pyth is a data provider for cryptocurrency markets. In the fast-paced and ever-expanding world of crypto, fast and reliable data is a must-have. Pyth is an industry leader in this category. It recently airdropped $500 million of the PYTH token to 90,000 wallets.

Best Solana Apps With Airdrop Potential

Drift Protocol 

Drift Protocol is an advanced yet intuitive trading platform for Solana, and users are expecting a substantial airdrop in the first half of 2024. The perp exchange allows users to take long and short positions with up to 20x leverage. It also offers advanced charting and tradebook features for short-term and day traders.

Drift Protocol has received over $23 million in venture funding, which signals that an airdrop could be of significant value. To earn Drift Points to potentially qualify for the airdrop, users must accrue trading volume on the platform.

Let’s take a look at some projects that have the potential to airdrop in 2024. 

Phantom Wallet

Phantom Wallet is the largest wallet service for the Solana chain. The wallet allows users full custody over Solana-based tokens and NFT projects. 

Due to the size and volume that Phantom supports, many believe that an airdrop could happen in 2024. While there is no guarantee that this will happen, there are some rumors of a potential airdrop.

If you believe that Phantom will have an airdrop in 2024, the best way to potentially receive tokens is to transact on the platform. 

Kamino Finance

Kamino is a unique project that hopes to combine lending, staking and leverage. It offers access to a handful of financial and trading products, such as futures, borrowing and yield-bearing products. 

Kamino recently introduced a points system onto the platform. The system tracks how much users transact and utilize the platform, which could be the beginning of a plan to airdrop tokens. With over $500 million in TVL, users are expecting the Kamino airdrop to be of significant value.

To build up points, you can stake, lend, borrow and trade on the platform. 

MarginFi

While some traders use lending and borrowing for leverage on trades, the practice also plays a huge role in risk management. By lending and borrowing specific amounts, traders can greatly reduce their risk on positions. MarginFi hopes to serve this need for users on the Solana chain, along with staking, swapping and bridging.

MarginFi has also released a points program. While an airdrop is not confirmed, this likely points towards one in 2024. To get points, you can stake, swap, lend, borrow or bridge on the platform. 

Sol Blaze

Sol Blaze, also known as BlazeStake, is the seventh-largest staking protocol on Solana with a total volume locked (TVL) of over $200 million.

Sol Blaze has an ongoing airdrop where bSOL holders can earn BLZE incentives on top of staking rewards. While this is a non-traditional airdrop, users with large holdings can accrue significant BLZE token rewards for participating.

How to Use Solana 

Solana is similar to Ethereum in its use of decentralized applications (dApps) and smart contracts, which allows developers to create new projects and directly integrate them on the chain.

There are a few concepts to go over in terms of using Solana.

A wallet is needed to interact with apps on Solana. A wallet allows you to have full control over your tokens and lets you use your tokens to interact with different apps.

You can connect your wallet to apps on the Solana chain. Most projects have a website, which you can use to directly connect your wallet to the project. 

Keep some extra SOL tokens in your wallet to cover transaction fees. While the fees are often small, they can add up over time and are required for transactions to go through. 

NFT Apps on Solana

If you are interested in NFTs, there is a strong and growing NFT community on the Solana chain. Some of the more popular apps are Solnart and Magic Eden.

These apps allow you to buy and sell NFTs from the top Solana projects. You can also find up-and-coming projects and future releases and release your own NFT project.

Is Using Apps on Solana Worth It?

Solana is one of the more hyped blockchains going into 2023. Its unique consensus mechanism allows for cheap and fast transactions. As more users begin to shift towards Solana, there is certainly room for growth. However, it faces strong competition from other chains such as Ethereum. If you believe that Solana’s differences can catapult it above Ethereum, then Solana apps could be a good choice for you.