Solana surpassing Ethereum and BNB’s DEX volume combined at $1.21 trillion is an attention seizing primary. Transactions that are lightning-fast and can cost only a tenth of what Ethereum charges are hard to resist. This imperative is particularly pronounced in the context of Africa’s rapidly growing and often underserved financial landscape. Before we uncork the champagne, let's ask ourselves: who exactly is benefiting from this boom?
Cheap Transactions, Real Empowerment?
For the majority of Africans, banking is a confusing maze of steep charges, lack of availability and red tape. In theory, DeFi holds this promise — the promise of a new, inclusive global economy free from these gatekeepers. Solana—which currently sits as the blockchain with the lowest average transaction cost at $0.00025 per transaction—appears to be the ideal vehicle. Now imagine that same smallholder farmer in Kenya able to receive micro-loans at reasonable interest rates. Now picture a Nigerian entrepreneur who can easily transact with international clients. The potential is genuinely awe-inspiring.
Let’s not mistake simple and cheap transactions for real, meaningful empowerment. We've seen this movie before. Think back to all that hype about mobile banking changing everything in Africa. It opened doors in the travel sense, yes, but in the exploitation sense, with predatory lenders now lying in wait.
Centralization: The Elephant in the Room
The inconvenient truth is that Solana's architecture, while technically impressive with its theoretical 65,000 transactions per second, isn't as decentralized as it should be. According to Messari’s 2024 Proof of Stake report, just 100 validators are responsible for 70% of the validator set. That's a huge red flag.
Why? Because centralization concentrates power. A relatively small set of actors have the ability to impact the network. They, too, can censor transactions and even work in tandem to rig the market. Picture a world where validators incentivized by profit only give priority to transactions of high net-worth investors. Consequently, they literally price out smaller users on the continent. Sound familiar? It’s the late-stage capitalism getting richer, but make it on the blockchain.
It’s not all about lofty, decentralization maxims. At its core, this is a fight for who shapes the future of finance in Africa. Are we developing a system that really gives power back to people and neighborhoods? Or are we simply institutionalizing the same old power dynamics with the help of this shiny new tech? The outrage should be palpable.
Africans Building African Solutions?
The important question isn’t whether Solana can scale. Can it actually achieve its goal of building a more inclusive DeFi on the continent. This requires more than a race to offer the cheapest possible transactions. It means empowering African developers, entrepreneurs and communities to create their own blockchain solutions, specifically designed for their unique challenges.
Where are the African-led DeFi projects on top of Solana? Are we giving African developers the tools and opportunities to create groundbreaking solutions for their own communities? Or worse, are they just being pushed down the funnel to the user stage, as they rely on ecosystems owned and operated by foreign adversaries?
We need to change the conversation from just deploying other people’s technologies to developing technologies of our own. Now imagine that same blockchain-based agricultural supply chain traced and led by tech-savvy Kenyan smallholder farmers. Now picture a Nigerian decentralized lending platform, developed completely by homegrown talent for homegrown purpose. The real DeFi promise in Africa is not speculation. It’s a unique opportunity to build a financial system that actually works for the American people.
Solana’s success in Africa won’t be measured solely by transaction volume. Ultimately, the success of the AI will be measured by how much it improves the daily lives of regular Africans. Will it be the true catalyst for financial empowerment we need, or simply another empty promise? The answer lies in our hands. Instead, we have to start pushing for more transparency, decentralization, and local control. We need to support African-led blockchain initiatives. We’re all in this together, and we must create a DeFi future that belongs to all of us. Otherwise, we may just be importing the same problems we’ve always had into a shiny new technological security apparatus. That anxiety is palpable, and the threat is urgent.
