Learnings & Reflections

Key insights, challenges overcome, and skills developed throughout the journey

Key Takeaways

Hands-on experience with SPL token minting and metadata on Solana

Learned to use Metaplex tools for NFT creation and management

Built and tested smart contracts for vaults, escrows, and AMMs using Anchor

Applied previous knowledge to develop advanced contracts like NFT staking and marketplaces

Gained confidence in writing, testing, and deploying Solana programs

Challenges

Understanding the differences and use-cases for vaults vs. escrows

Debugging and testing complex smart contract logic in Anchor

Integrating multiple concepts (NFTs, escrows, AMMs) into larger projects

Managing on-chain state and metadata efficiently

Skills Gained

Solana program development with Anchor

Typescript-based smart contract testing

Minting and managing SPL tokens and NFTs

Building DeFi primitives: vaults, escrows, AMMs

Developing advanced NFT utilities: staking and marketplaces

Growth Summary

This journey has been transformative, building from foundational token concepts to complex DeFi protocols. Each challenge overcome has contributed to a deeper understanding of blockchain development and the Solana ecosystem.