Forem: Usman Abdullahi Olukayode

What Clicked for Me After Building on Solana for a Few Days

Usman Abdullahi Olukayode — Fri, 22 May 2026 16:47:45 +0000

Before I started working through day 08 to day 12, I expected blockchain data to feel a lot more opaque than it does. I thought I would be dealing with something closer to a black box, where the main challenge was just figuring out which API call returned which value. What surprised me most was how quickly Solana started to feel like a public database I could inspect directly.

Day 08 was the first real "oh, this is usable" moment. Reading a balance with RPC did not feel like hitting a special blockchain endpoint so much as querying state. Day 09 pushed that further when I fetched recent transaction signatures and started seeing the chain as a history of real events instead of just a number on a screen. That made the data feel alive. It was no longer just "wallet balance" or "transaction count." It was a record of activity I could trace.

The biggest click came when I compared devnet and mainnet on day 12. Same code, same RPC patterns, different networks, different answers. That made the shared-state model feel real to me. I was not talking to one app's private backend. I was asking two different views of the network the same questions and getting different slices of reality back.

Working on day 10 also helped connect the pieces. Once I put balance and transaction lookups into a small browser app, Solana stopped feeling like a set of disconnected scripts. It started to feel like something you could actually build a product around. That was the moment the SDK made sense: it was not abstract blockchain machinery; it was just a way to read and present on-chain state cleanly.

What is still a little confusing is how the deeper account model fits together under the hood. I get the high-level idea now: accounts hold data, programs define behavior, and the chain is public by default. But I still want more practice understanding when to think about wallet addresses, when to think about program-owned accounts, and how PDAs fit into the picture.

So far, the takeaway has been simple. Solana is not just "a blockchain where data lives somewhere else." It changes the whole mental model. The data is public, the state is shared, and the challenge is learning how to read and shape that state without relying on a traditional backend in the middle.

This is day 13 of my #100DaysOfSolana journey. I’m sharing weekly reflections as I build from zero to proficiency with blockchain development.

Solana Accounts vs Databases

Usman Abdullahi Olukayode — Fri, 22 May 2026 15:41:33 +0000

If you know databases, Solana can feel familiar and strange at the same time. A database row becomes an account, a primary key becomes a public key or PDA, and a schema becomes program logic.

The big shift is this: data lives on a shared network, not one company server. The program decides what the data means, and only the right signer can change it.

That is why Solana asks you to think less about tables and more about ownership, permissions, and state.

The table and the solana address output make the idea easier to see at a glance. On Solana, identity and data are tied to accounts, and accounts behave very differently from rows in a normal database.

Identity on Solana: How It's Different From Web2 (And Why That Matters)

Usman Abdullahi Olukayode — Sat, 16 May 2026 07:53:09 +0000

You know how frustrating it is when you get locked out of your email and have to jump through hoops to prove you own the account? Or when a platform gets hacked and someone else gains access to your data? If you're a Web2 developer, you've probably built login flows, managed authentication, and dealt with the complexity of keeping user credentials safe.

Solana does identity completely differently. And once you understand how, a lot of blockchain concepts suddenly click into place.

The SSH Key Analogy

If you've set up SSH, you already understand Solana identity. You generate a keypair: the public key is on the server, and the private key stays secret. You prove ownership by signing with your private key.

Solana works identically. Every account has a keypair—public key (your address) and a private key (proves ownership). No company involved. No email verification. Just cryptography.

Cryptographic Ownership Changes Everything

In Web2, companies manage your identity. They store credentials, reset passwords, and can lock you out. On Solana, you own your account if and only if you control the private key. No password resets. No lockouts. No company can revoke it, but losing the key means losing access forever. It's true autonomy, but with full responsibility.

How You Hold Your Private Key Matters: Wallet Types and Safety

But here's the practical question: where do you keep your private key?

Hot vs Cold: Hot wallets (CLI, browser, and mobile) keep your key on an internet-connected device, fast and convenient but vulnerable. Cold wallets (like Ledger) keep it offline, much more secure, but slower.

Custodial vs Non-Custodial: Non-custodial wallets (Phantom, CLI) give you full control of the keypair. Custodial wallets (exchanges) have a company holding them, which is convenient, but you're trusting them again.

The tradeoff is real: more security means less convenience. During my first week, I experimented with CLI (full control), browser extensions (convenient), and mobile wallets (very convenient). Each one is a valid identity. Which you use depends on what you're doing and how much you're storing.

The key insight? The security of your keypair is your responsibility.

What This Enables

Because your address is cryptographically tied to your private key, you can own tokens without custodians, interact with smart contracts, vote on governance, and build reputation that travels across all Solana applications.

The killer feature? It's permissionless. You don't ask anyone for permission to own your identity. You generate a keypair and you're in.

The Aha Moment

Here's what clicked for me: Solana identity isn't about replacing passwords. It's about replacing the role of the company.

In Web2, the company is the arbiter of who you are. On Solana, you are. You prove it with cryptography, and that shift unlocks everything—true ownership, interoperability, and permissionless access.

This is day 6 of my #100DaysOfSolana journey. I'll be posting weekly reflections on what I'm learning as I build from zero to proficiency with blockchain development.

100daysofsolana #solana #web3 #blockchain #beginners