How Solflare became Solana’s self-custodial wallet for everyday users
Diving into Solflare's goal to democratize finance and make self-custody more accessible for for all types of users
Each month, we’re diving into one founder’s journey of building on Solana, as well as noteworthy network updates to help readers get up to speed.
The latest Solana Sessions podcast
For this month's episode, we sat down with Vidor Gencel, co-founder and co-CEO of Solflare, a non-custodial cryptocurrency wallet focused on the Solana blockchain with more than $15 billion in managed assets and over 4 million active users.
We discuss Solflare’s focus on security, its work to provide users greater access for self-custody and the wallet’s goal to democratize finance. We also talked about the importance of building trust and a sense of community among users, while ensuring safety guardrails are in place for all types of traders.
We also explored Gencel’s journey from discovering and learning all the intricacies of Ethereum with a group of close friends, discovering Solana and creating validator sets, to eventually launching a wallet app on the network in 2020.
This is a part of the Solana Sessions campaign that Token Relations and the Talking Tokens podcast are doing, diving into founders’ journeys and startups building on Solana. The episode is available on Talking Tokens on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube.
A Saga of Startups
Since inception, security has been a major point of conversation in crypto, a topic that’s important to understand before navigating the onchain world. As a result, self-custodial wallets have seen significant adoption as a means for securing assets. From storing digital assets and NFTs to enabling staking and trading, millions of people use self-custodial solutions for greater control. This includes Solana-focused wallets, too.
While blockchain technology was initially designed to democratize finance, and over time it has, things weren’t always this way. Initially, navigating the blockchain required technical expertise or command-line interfaces, leaving many users unable to participate. Solflare was created as a way to get around this hurdle with an eye towards making web3 more accessible.
“Initially, a group of friends and I started spinning up a few of our own validators, and it wasn't anything like something we'd seen before,” Solflare co-founder and co-CEO of Vidor Gencel said on Talking Tokens. “We started building stuff from it and quickly came to realize that Solana didn't have a wallet despite it being a very appealing tech and a very good blockchain.”
The lack of accessibility tools combined with Gencel’s appreciation of Solana's technology prompted the creation of a solution with which users could easily manage their assets. “Before Solflare, a user could only interact with Solana through a command line,” Gencel said. “Obviously, no normal user would interact with a blockchain like that, so we built Solana's first web wallet.”
Gencel initially started developing on Ethereum, but recognizing Solana’s potential early on, the Solflare team pivoted to exclusively develop for Solana, choosing to focus on one chain to maximize the fruit of their efforts. “The Solana-only focus is something that we didn't do accidentally,” Gencel said. “Without the added complexity of other blockchains or other integrations, we could have a much smoother and even more performant wallet experience.”
Since it is Solana-native, Solflare opens a number of doors for people who view self-custody as a path to true ownership, letting them use the wallet for everyday finance, like spending stablecoins or earning yields. “Self-custody is when you are in the final charge of your assets, and that no one can take them away from you,” Gencel said. “[In crypto], your money cannot get frozen essentially.” This means users hold their private keys, ensuring no external entity, like a bank or government, can restrict their funds, unlike traditional systems where accounts can be locked.
The nature of self-custody meant Solflare had to prioritize establishing a layer of trust with its users, and the team therefore adopted a community-first approach, often actively seeking and incorporating user feedback. “We have a very vibrant community of ambassadors that onboard other people and show the power of self-custody,” Gencel said. “These users are not financially incentivized at all, [they’re] here every day supporting the product, using the product, providing feedback.” This focus on community engagement and safety measures helped Solflare establish a foundation of trust with its users.
Solflare further facilitates financial freedom by offering tools like stablecoin integrations and self-custodial debit cards, allowing users to manage and spend their assets without relying on centralized institutions. “The actual stablecoin stays in your wallet right until the last moment when you swipe your debit card on a point of service terminal,” Gencel said. “This means, your money is [not] locked for a moment of time.”
All in, Solflare wants to democratize finance by making self-custody accessible while building a gateway for everyday users to systems that let them thrive beyond traditional banking.
“Our long-term vision is to empower people to truly own their assets in a self-custodial way,” Gencel said. “We are very firm believers in self-custody and, in general, democratizing finance, providing the best opportunities to our users.”
Solflare by the numbers
Total assets managed: $15B
Active users: 4M
The biggest updates on Solana
Outside of our spotlight… here’s what’s happening on the blockchain:
Solana TVL reached $12.3B on Sept. 8, an all-time high for the network
SOL Strategies, a digital asset firm focused on the Solana blockchain, was approved to list its common shares on the Nasdaq
Solana Mobile started Seeker Season with Moonwalk Fitness to provide a 20% Fitness XP boost to users
Galaxy Digital partnered with Superstate to launch tokenized versions of its Class A common stock on Solana
Time.fun launched a mobile app for its social connections app built on Solana
ApeCoin partnered with Jupiter to expand its APE token to Solana
Magic Eden deployed a validator set to Solana in collaboration with Sentinel and Phase Labs
Phygitals’s weekly revenue earned from gacha grabs and fees/royalties reached an all-time high of $6.75M
Metaplex released onchain auctions to Solana for new token launch bids and real-time price action
Public equity on Solana rose 33% to $55.2M from a month earlier
Colosseum's VC fund allocated $2.5M in pre-seed capital to Solana Cypherpunk Hackathon winners
Pumpfun updated its fees earning model, resulting in more than $15.57M being paid to creators over the last week
USDG, a stablecoin backed by firms like Robinhood and Kraken, reached $342.8M in outstanding supply on Solana
Sign up for Solana Breakpoint in Abu Dhabi from Dec. 11-13 to hear from ecosystem founders, developers and creators
Backpack launched perpetual futures trading in Europe. Sign up to its waitlist here
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This information is for entertainment purposes only. It should not be considered financial advice, nor should it be used to make investment decisions. Cryptocurrencies are high risk and you should consult a financial professional before making any financial decisions. Make sure you do your own research.