From zero to shipping on Solana.

Solana is a public blockchain built for speed and low cost. Transactions confirm in well under a second and typically cost a fraction of a cent, which makes it practical for payments, trading, games and consumer apps, not just for holding assets.

Three things to know:

• SOL is the native token. You use it to pay transaction fees and to hold a small amount of "rent" for on-chain accounts.
• Programs are Solana's smart contracts. They are stateless code; the data lives in separate accounts the program owns.
• Wallets hold your keys. Your public key is your address; your private key (or seed phrase) is what signs transactions. Never share it.

Where to look next: the official docs at solana.com/docs, and the community in our Telegram.

1. Go to phantom.app and install the browser extension or the mobile app. Only download from the official site or app store.
2. Choose Create a new wallet and set a password.
3. Write down the 12-word secret recovery phrase on paper. Do not screenshot it, do not store it in notes or email. Anyone with those words controls your funds.
4. Your Solana address starts on the main screen. Copy it to receive SOL or USDC.

Safety rules: nobody legitimate will ever ask for your recovery phrase. Check every URL before connecting. Keep a small "hot" wallet for daily use and a separate one for savings.

Most people in Superteam earn their first crypto income through Superteam Earn. Three types of listings:

• Bounties: a company posts a task (write an article, design a landing page, build a demo). Anyone can submit. The best submissions win the reward, usually paid in USDC.
• Projects: freelance gigs. You apply, one person is picked, you get paid on delivery.
• Grants: funding for something you want to build. You apply with a proposal; money is often released in milestones.

How to start: create a profile on Earn, pick one bounty in your skill area, read the brief twice, deliver early. A good first submission is worth more than ten half-done ones.

You need three things: the Solana CLI, Rust (for on-chain programs) and Node.js (for clients and scripts).

# Rust
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh

# Solana CLI (Agave)
sh -c "$(curl -sSfL https://release.anza.xyz/stable/install)"

# Check
solana --version
solana config set --url devnet
solana-keygen new
solana airdrop 2

Use devnet while learning: free test SOL, no real money. Switch to mainnet only when you are ready to ship.

Client side, the standard libraries are @solana/web3.js (or the newer @solana/kit) and @solana/spl-token for tokens.

Anchor is the most used framework for writing Solana programs in Rust. It handles account validation, serialization and generates a TypeScript client for you.

cargo install --git https://github.com/coral-xyz/anchor avm --force
avm install latest && avm use latest

anchor init hello_solana
cd hello_solana
anchor build
anchor test

The template gives you a program with one instruction, a test file in TypeScript and a local validator run. Read programs/hello_solana/src/lib.rs first: the #[program] module holds your instructions, the #[derive(Accounts)] structs declare which accounts each instruction touches.

Next steps: store a counter in a PDA (program-derived address), then let a wallet increment it. That single exercise teaches 80% of the Solana account model.

• solana.com/docs: core concepts, accounts, transactions, programs.
• anchor-lang.com: the Anchor book and reference.
• solana.com/developers: courses, examples and bootcamps.
• solanacookbook.com: copy-paste recipes for common tasks.

Stuck? Ask in the Superteam Italy Telegram. Include what you tried and the exact error: you will get a better answer, faster.

The Solana Foundation funds public goods, developer tooling, education and early-stage projects that grow the ecosystem. Applications go through solana.org/grants.

What a strong application has:

• A clear problem statement and who has it.
• Something already built: a repo, a demo, a prototype. Ideas alone rarely get funded.
• A milestone plan with amounts per milestone, not one big number.
• Why Solana specifically, and what you give back to the ecosystem (open source, docs, users).

Smaller, faster paths exist too: Superteam grants on Earn are designed for first projects and take days, not months. Ask in Telegram and we will point you to the right one.

A launch is not a tweet. It is a sequence:

1. Build in public for weeks before: progress posts, demos, asking for feedback in the community.
2. Get early users from the network. Superteam members test, break and review things fast. Ask.
3. Ship on devnet first, then mainnet with a small cap. Audit or at least peer-review anything holding funds.
4. Launch day: one clear message, one link, one ask. Coordinate with the community so it amplifies.
5. After: publish what worked and what didn't. That post is your best recruiting tool.

Want a slot at a Superteam Italy event to demo? Tell us in Telegram.

The fastest way to find people is to work with them first. Take a bounty together, join a hackathon team, review someone's code. Then decide.

• Post in Telegram: what you are building, what skills you need, what you bring.
• Show up to events. Most teams in the ecosystem started at a meetup or a hackathon.
• Be specific. "Looking for a Rust dev for a payments product, part-time for 8 weeks" beats "looking for a co-founder".