New Yorkers are getting a treat — a real physical Solana store to open in prestigious mall
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What’s next, an Ethereum gas station?
Today is the big day for the Solana Foundation. On July 28 it opens an experience-focused store for all New Yorkers and city guests to behold. It is located in the shopping center, The Shops, in the prestigious Hudson Yards district in Manhattan.
You may ask, what the hell you can buy in the crypto-oriented store? Well, it’s what one could expect: merch. Next to the cashier of the Solana Spaces store are NFT images from the Degenerate Ape Academy collection. Visitors will be able to pay for purchases through the Solana Pay payment system.
But, as I’ve said earlier, it’s an experience-based store. What this means is you come there not only to buy stuff, but to do something.
Imagine an Apple Store, and don’t tell me you come there only to buy a new iPhone or AirPods or any other accessory, but even more focused on giving you cool things to do. Instead of playing around with the biggest iPads you’ve ever seen, you get to know more about Solana.
For example, you can create a Phantom wallet in a private corner. I mean it, you can close the black curtain and write your seed phrase without having to worry about someone looking at it. Among other entertainment stations are ones that could educate you about Solana and the biggest projects that use its tech — STEPN and Magic Eden.
Solana Spaces CEO Vibhu Norby thinks that this store is more of an “experiment that we think a lot of people will love.” And an experiment it is. I doubt that many will buy a tee with WAGMI written on it. According to Mr. Norby, the initiative is aimed at attracting and educating those who are not yet familiar or who are just taking their first steps in the industry.
But I certainly can see some mall idlers walk in and stare at numbers of transactions being updated in the real time. It really has the “cool factor”, so to say. But, the way I see it, it is some kind of a pet project, which exists only to help Solana gain prestige and credibility.
And this is something I can respect. During the last year, Solana gained some serious steam. Its coin is now in the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap. There are numerous projects being developed using the blockchain. Everything seems to work out just fine for the Solana Foundation.
Let us hope that it will not change in the future.
Source: Fortune
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