Going through a new ecosystem, even briefly, for the first time is tiring. I can imagine the same experience must be felt by someone looking at Hive for the first time...
That happened to me, and I am not new to the crypto space or checking out other ecosystems. Think about what someone completely new must be exposed to (although if they don't have to move funds between ecosystems, but on the route fiat -> CEX -> ecosystem, paradoxically, it might be easier in some cases). And we are wondering why crypto hasn't reached mass adoption... It's generally too complicated for mass adoption, with a few pockets of simplicity here and there. The problem is we haven't found yet a solution where simplicity and ease of use don't come with a high degree of centralization at a package.
So, I decided to give Solana a first look... I'm not stupid to invest in SOL at these prices, although it might pump harder than others at the end of the bull market, but this is not a time to change plans. But can be a time to look around that ecosystem to see how it works, like I was doing with others in the previous bull market.
So, the first thing I did was to check out what was the most popular wallet on Solana, since this is not an EVM chain, so there's no Metamask there. I looks to be a clear choice: Phantom. I installed the browser extension for Firefox, which worked perfectly, despite a few 1-star reviews saying it's far worse than the Chrome one. Maybe they updated it.
Now my issue was that Phantom only supported Solana, Ethereum, and Polygon, and I wanted to send a minimum amount of funds from BSC.
After some looking around, I found Allbridge, but that moved only stablecoins across chains. I took it even though I knew I wouldn't have funds for my first transaction on Solana.
I did say a minimum amount of funds, right? 😂
So, I still don't have SOL, but I guess I'll have to move something on Polygon and send it from there. But I don't feel like it now.
I did check out some games on Solana, without playing them of course, but nothing seemed extraordinary. I would have liked the Monopoly idea, but I'm not sure if that game still exists (or ever did). I didn't seem to find a website for it.
I still wonder why board games aren't implemented more often in the crypto space. They certainly have a huge player base. And earnings could be just for tournaments, and otherwise play for pleasure and for receiving some NFTs associated with achievements.
Assuming tomorrow I'm in the mood to send the SOL for my initial transactions on Solana, is there something (dApps, defi, game, etc.) I should check out among the first things? Keep in mind I'll only have around 10$ worth of funds, lol.