Alchemy launches Solana developer platform
Solana developers can now use Alchemy, a popular "pick and shovel" service that provides tools to speed up Web3 development. Alchemy, which bills itself as the Amazon Web Services of Web3, announced on Thursday that it is launching a suite of development tools for Solana, a move that could help the upstart blockchain grow even further.
Alchemy, founded in 2020 by two Stanford graduates, has made a name for itself by developing tools that simplify common Web3 tasks such as writing transactions and hosting nodes. The company's core offerings revolve around Ethereum, but it has recently begun tailoring its services to other blockchains such as Flow and Polygon.
As a result, Alchemy's toolkit is likely to accelerate the development of the Solana ecosystem by making new applications faster and easier to build. The blockchain is already home to some Web3 hits, such as the NFT marketplace Magic Eden and the fitness app Step'n, and more are on the way.
"Alchemy coming in will significantly level up the capability of people building in Solana," said Nikil Viswanathan, co-founder of the company.
The agreement with Solana is described as an "official partnership" by Alchemy, and the launch on Thursday is a "public gated beta," which means only certain vetted developers will be able to use it first. However, a company spokesperson stated that the Solana toolkit will be available to all in a matter of weeks.
The launch of Solana coincides with the first significant bear market for cryptocurrency in years, and it is the first time Alchemy has had to navigate a major industry downturn.
However, given its role as a "pick-and-shovel" provider to the rest of the industry, the company may be better positioned to weather the downturn than others. According to Viswanathan, Alchemy's business model differs from that of exchanges, which are suffering as prices and trading activity fall, because it is paid based on others using its services, and that usage is increasing.
According to an Alchemy spokesperson, the number of developers using the company's services has tripled since February, and the company is still profitable despite this year's bear market. Alchemy has raised more than R7.7B in funding and announced a valuation of R157B in February.
