[omeze]

I feel like launching this comes with a really fundamental misunderstanding around the role of a platform. If Solana is just going to launch products why would developers build on top of it knowing the platform owner (de-facto) controls the roadmap? This works for existing systems like Visa only because Visa is already large and the most accepted network (and in fact, Visa was initially a consortium of banks, as was Mastercard) -- and even then, Visa faces pressure on all fronts from ACH, p2p, and crypto networks which developers will flock to if integration is easier and user-accepted. I would be just as shocked/skeptical if Visa believed it could build an enduring supply of Visa-specific apps and developers in a way that mimics e.g. iOS/Windows.

When a platform has a hard supply-side to build out (in this case, developers and apps) making the platform owner a competitor seems incredibly short-sighted. IIRC, Intel famously refused to get into end-user devices like calculators because of this exact dynamic.

[magicjosh]

Appreciate the insightful comment. I also wonder why this is a Solana-developed product. Imagine if Ethereum launched EtherPay, or Bitcoin launched Bitcoin Pay. Seems strange to compete with your own developers like that. I'm not familiar with the details of Solana. Anyone more familiar with the project who can explain?