‘Solcial’ Raises $2.9M to Build Censorship-Free Social Media on Solana

The Solana ecosystem is getting a social network.

Solcial has raised $2.9 million to expand in a round led by Alameda Research with Solana Foundation, Rarestone Capital, GBV, Shift Capital and Noia Capital participating.

Around 5% of Solcial’s planned SLC tokens are earmarked for seed funders, according to pseudonymous founder “Idris,” for a valuation of about $58 million.

The platform, which has not yet launched, plans to build a hub for sharing content, following the news and even trading assets, in a censorship-free environment. It’s hardly the only crypto stab at hands-off social media (BitClout is perhaps best-known) though one of the first on Solana.

“It has to be very cheap, and very fast to post a comment or a photo,” Idris said in a Telegram chat. “People have high expectations (in terms of user experience) with centralized social networks, and we have to have a decentralized solution that could match.”

Read more: Nader Al-Naji (Formerly Known as ‘Diamondhands’) Unveils Long-Term Plan for BitClout Blockchain

Even so, Solcial is content on courting the crypto crowd for now. It will place a heavy focus on monetization opportunities of content creators, Idris said. He declined to elaborate on how that model will work but said, “Essentially, Solcial will allow to turn anyone into a business.”

BitClout also tried to put a crypto twist on content monetization. The “crypto social network” backed by Andreessen Horowitz lets users speculate on the value of creator coins that in many cases are listed without their namesakes’ consent.

“Their launch wasn’t well received,” Idris said in the Telegram chat. They said Solcial “looked at BitClout and all the other attempts” to find the right fit for decentralized social media.

Solcial plans to launch in December, Idris said. Until then, it’s is looking to hire marketers and project developers.