Brandon Kase@bkase_
There’s been a lot happening behind the scenes, and I’m fully aware we haven’t shared enough. I’m here to try and give as much information as possible while we’re still in flight. I’ve also committed to a community call next week to address any outstanding questions.
As CEO of @o1_labs , I’ll do everything in my ability to get Mina back on track, hand in hand with the community. This starts with the transition between Mina Foundation and o1Labs.
🏠 In addition to the technical roadmap, o1Labs has now assumed ownership of core functions, including: marketing, community, grant and delegation programs, and tools & infrastructure. This means we’ll all be rowing in the same direction and operating in a unified way and without duplicating efforts.
🪗 What has become clear also is that myself and the broader @MinaProtocol ecosystem should set better expectations about Mina: Instead of building on Mina as a monolith, developers should be building with Mina and treating it as a stack--this includes the zkDSL (o1js), settlement layer (Mina protocol), the bridge layer ( @nori_zk bridge + @alignedlayer bridge), the query layer (web node), etc.
Previously, the expectation was set that launching extra layers of infrastructure was the only way to achieve better and more performant apps. I want to emphasize that builders don’t need to be blocked by the delivery of those platforms. Developers can leverage components of Mina’s stack today, right now, and build functioning products: Such as idmask.xyz and silvana.one and zkvot.io that are being built by incredible builders in the Mina community.
Since Mina Protocol doesn’t have an execution environment (the chain verifies application execution proofs!), only devs who eat glass should try to build consumer apps on Mina until a simple execution environment enters production: We’re so excited for @ZekoProtocol or @proto_kit or Pulsar or something new--they are all valuable projects to the Mina ecosystem that enable developers to build with Mina in new ways.
But you don’t need to wait! Devs can build with Mina right now using a browser/nodejs execution environment to build with o1js from the Mina stack. We realize the documentation on how to build with Mina in this way is lacking, so we’re committed to creating more resources and supporting the community with dedicated spaces to answer questions and engage in discussions.
⚒️ The o1Labs engineering team is focused on improving Mina across these two initiatives:
1. The protocol upgrade in the fall, which will include important enhancements to network performance, security and functionality. Several MIPs are planned for this, with the first one already in progress: We will speed up slot time by 2x + remove the soft-limit on zkapp transactions per block.
2. As o1js is a key part of the Mina stack, we are dedicating a team internally to optimizing o1js for the long term, and in parallel will work to better communicate how o1js works with what we have today.
There’s no way we can build everything ourselves. That’s why we will also be taking an active role in supporting and growing the adoption of important ecosystem projects that will unlock use cases, including @zkcloudworker, @zknoid , @fizk_protocol’s zkUSD in addition to the ones mentioned earlier in the post, and even more!
🏙️ It takes more than tech to build an ecosystem. I’m shifting the whole company and challenging each person to think more practically and create tighter feedback loops between the community, the engineering team, and our marketing efforts. When we first founded Mina, it was one of the best communities in the space with super engaged, friendly and helpful members. I want to re-energize our community and commit to making decisions with and for the community in mind. If you have any specific needs or suggestions for creating tighter feedback loops, tell us in the community call next week.
I know there’s a lot to digest and figure out still, but I’m excited about the future of Mina, more than ever. Our renewed approach of focus--focusing on enabling builders to build with Mina, focusing on the new upgrade and o1js, and focusing on tight feedback loops with the community--will guide the Mina ecosystem enter its next chapter of flourishing. ✨
