Solana’s First Layer Explained : Users , Wallets and Accounts
Before getting into this blog make sure to read my previous blog for better understanding , This is the Part II of previous blog.
We’ve built a great understanding so far. We started with the big picture , learning that Solana is an Integrated blockchain built for speed and seamlessness. Then, we looked at the simple story of a transaction , introducing the key role of the rotating Leader. After that, we zoomed in on the detailed technical engine, revealing the Six Stages (like Gulf Stream and Turbine) that make this speed possible .
Now , we are going to zoom in on the very first of those six stages: the User. This blog explains what a “user” and an “account” truly are in the Solana world.
Before any transaction can happen, a user needs an identity and a way to interact with the network. This is where wallets and keys come in.
1. Getting Started: The Wallet : The journey begins when you download a Solana wallet application (like Phantom, Solflare, etc.). Think of the wallet as your personal interface to the Solana universe — it’s like your web browser for the blockchain. Its most important job is to create and manage your “keypair.”
2. Your Account: Public Key vs. Private Key Your entire presence on Solana is defined by a keypair, which consists of two parts that are mathematically linked. The slide gives a perfect analogy: think of your Solana account as a file on a computer.
Public Key (Your Address):
Analogy: This is the filename. It’s the unique identifier for your account.What it’s for: This is your public address. It’s like your email address or your bank account number. You can share it freely with anyone. If someone wants to send you cryptocurrency or an NFT, they send it to your public key address.Example : FDK…Lw4Tn. This long, alphanumeric string is a user-friendly representation (called Base58) of your public key.
Private Key (Your Password):
Analogy: This is the password to the file. It is also called a “secret key” or, more commonly, your “seed phrase” (a 12 or 24-word version of the key).What it’s for: This key proves you are the owner of the account. You use it to “sign” or approve every transaction.THE GOLDEN RULE: You must NEVER, EVER share your private key with anyone. Always remember that “Knowledge of the private key gives absolute authority over the account.” If someone gets your private key, they can steal everything you own. Your wallet keeps this key safe and uses it on your behalf when you approve a transaction.
3. What the Computer Sees : Now we will see what these keys look like under the hood:
Keypair (Base58 string): This represents your private key (and by extension, its linked public key). It’s a long string that you must keep completely secret.Keypair (integer array): At its most basic level, a key is just a string of numbers (bytes). The [63,107,47,…] is the raw data that the Base58 string represents. The slide notes that a full keypair is 64 bytes long—32 bytes for the private part and 32 for the public part.
So, when we say “User” in the Solana process, we mean an account controlled by a private key and identified by a public key.
Your Secure Identity on Solana (Deep Dive)
From the previous , we know your identity on Solana is a keypair (a public address and a private password). But how are these keys created? And what makes them so secure? Now we will see that .
The Mathematical Foundation: The Ed25519 Curve
Look at the graph. This strange, curved line is the heart of Solana’s security.
What it is: It’s a visual representation of a specific type of advanced mathematics called an elliptic curve. Solana uses a version named Ed25519, which is famous for being extremely secure and efficient.The Big Idea: Every single Solana wallet address in existence is simply one unique point on this curve. The diagram shows “Bob’s wallet” as one such point. Your wallet is another unique point. Your friend’s wallet is a third point. The math of the curve ensures that these points (your public keys) can be generated from a secret number (your private key), but it’s practically impossible to go the other way and figure out the secret number just by looking at the point on the curve.Why Ed25519? It was chosen because it’s fast, requires small key and signature sizes (which saves space and cost on the blockchain), and is very resilient to known methods of attack.
Your Master Key: The Mnemonic Seed Phrase
Previously we called the private key a “password.” Now I will tell you what that “password” looks like in the real world. It’s not something you type every day; it’s something you write down once and protect with your life.
What it is: It’s a mnemonic seed phrase — a list of 12 or 24 simple English words (e.g., witch basket pioneer razor…).How it works: When you create a new wallet, it generates a master secret key for you and presents it as this list of words. This phrase is the ultimate backup for all your funds. From this single seed phrase, your wallet can “deterministically” derive a virtually infinite number of individual Solana accounts. “Deterministically” just means it will always derive the same keys in the same order every time.This is your real private key. If you lose your phone or your computer crashes, you can reinstall a Solana wallet on a new device, enter your 12 or 24-word phrase, and you will instantly regain full access to all your funds. It is the most critical piece of information you own.
The Power of Your Signature: The Atomic Transaction
Now, let’s connect this cryptography to the action of making a transaction.
Signing: When you approve a transaction, your wallet uses your private key (derived from your seed phrase) to create a unique digital signature. This signature is mathematical proof that the owner of the account authorized the transaction.Atomicity: Transactions are atomic. This is a powerful guarantee. “Atomic” means the transaction is an “all-or-nothing” operation.Analogy: Imagine you’re swapping your collectible NFT for 5 SOL from Bob. An atomic transaction ensures that one of two things happens: (1) you get the 5 SOL AND Bob gets the NFT, or (2) the entire transaction fails and you both get your original items back. There is no in-between state where you send your NFT and get nothing in return. This all-or-nothing principle is what makes complex operations like trading on decentralized exchanges safe.
The Anatomy of a Solana Transaction ::
Now we will see that a Solana transaction is a very precise and well-structured piece of data. Think of it as a formal request sent to the Solana network.
At the highest level, it has two parts:
The Transaction Message: This is the core of the request. It’s the “letter” itself, containing all the details about what you want to do.The Signature(s): This is the proof of authorization. It’s the cryptographic signature, created with your private key, that gets attached to the message. It proves you wrote the letter and that it hasn’t been tampered with. Each signature is 64 bytes of data.
The true complexity lies within the Transaction Message, which is composed of four specific sections:
A. Instructions (The “What to Do”)
This is the most important part — the actual commands you want the network to execute. A single transaction can contain multiple instructions that run in order. This is the “core” of the transaction. This page gives us concrete examples of what an instruction can be: transfer (send tokens), mint (create new tokens/NFTs), burn (destroy tokens/NFTs), or create account
Analogy: Think of a transaction as a recipe. The “Instructions” are the individual steps: “1. Mix flour and sugar,” “2. Add eggs,” “3. Beat until smooth.”
Each instruction has three parts:
Program ID: The address of the smart contract you want to use (e.g., the address for the Jupiter exchange program or the Tensor NFT marketplace program). This is the specific “kitchen appliance” you need for this step.Accounts: The specific accounts this one instruction needs to read from or write to. These are the “ingredients” for this step (e.g., your SOL account, your USDC account).Data for the program: The specific details for the command (e.g., “swap 1 SOL” or “list NFT for 5 SOL”).
B. Account Addresses (The Full “Shopping List”)
This is a complete, ordered list of every single account that will be touched by any of the instructions in the transaction.
Why is this important? This is a key reason for Solana’s speed. By forcing the transaction to declare all involved accounts upfront, the network can figure out which transactions are unrelated and can be processed simultaneously (in parallel) without waiting for each other. If your transaction only involves your accounts, and my transaction only involves my accounts, the network knows it can run both at the same time without conflict.
C. Recent Blockhash (The “Proof of Liveness”)
This is a critical security feature.
What it is: A “blockhash” is the unique ID of a very recent block on the Solana blockchain.Analogy: It acts like putting the headline of today’s newspaper in a video. It proves the video was filmed today, not five years ago.Why it’s used: By including a recent blockhash, you are “timestamping” your transaction. The network will reject the transaction if the blockhash is too old (usually older than about 2 minutes). This prevents a “replay attack,” where a malicious person could try to copy your signed transaction and submit it again later to make you perform the same action twice.
D. Header (The “Metadata”)
This is a tiny piece of information at the very beginning of the message. As the legend at the bottom explains (u1, u2, u3), it simply tells the network three numbers: how many signatures are required, how many of the involved accounts are read-only signers, and how many are read-only non-signers. This is more metadata that helps the network process the transaction efficiently.
The Rules and Limits of a Transaction:
Finally, the strict rules that this entire package must follow:
Size Limit: A Solana transaction cannot be larger than 1,232 bytes. This is a very small size, which forces transactions to be efficient and lightweight, allowing them to travel through the network very quickly.Compute Units (CUs): This is how Solana measures the cost of a transaction’s complexity.Analogy: Think of CUs as Solana’s version of “gas.” A simple token transfer is an easy task that uses very few CUs. A complex trade on a decentralized exchange is a more intensive task that uses many more CUs.Purpose: This system measures the amount of computational work a validator must do to process your transaction. It’s used to prevent network spam and is a key factor in calculating the transaction’s fee, ensuring you pay for the resources you use.
In summary, a Solana transaction is a small, highly efficient, and precisely structured data package. It declares all its resource needs upfront (the accounts list) to enable parallel processing, is protected by a 1-minute expiry date (the blockhash), and its computational cost is measured in Compute Units. This entire signed package is what gets sent to the network for execution.
We now have a complete picture of a Solana transaction. It’s a secure, atomic request, authorized by a User’s private key. This request is a tiny data package (under 1,232 bytes) with a precise structure: Instructions, Account Addresses, a Recent Blockhash, and a Header. We also know its complexity is measured in Compute Units (CUs).
Now, let’s understand the fee you pay to get this package processed.
The Anatomy of a Fee :
To understand fees, we first need to know the currency.
The Lamport: The Smallest Unit of SOL As the box at the bottom explains, the smallest unit of a SOL token is called a lamport.
1 SOL = 1,000,000,000 lamports (one billion)Analogy: This is like the relationship between a Rupee and a paisa, or a Dollar and a cent, but on a much smaller scale. This allows transaction fees to be incredibly tiny. The unit is named in honor of Leslie Lamport, a pioneering computer scientist whose work is fundamental to the systems Solana is built on.
A transaction fee on Solana is made up of two parts, as shown in the formula at the top of the page: Total Fee = Base Fee + Prioritization Fee
1. The Base Fee (The Cost of Entry)
This is a small, fixed fee required for every transaction.Cost: It is 5,000 lamports per signature. A simple transfer with one signature costs 5,000 lamports. A more complex transaction needing two signatures would have a base fee of 10,000 lamports.This fee covers the basic cost of getting your transaction validated and included in a block, regardless of how complex its instructions are.
2. The Prioritization Fee (The “Tip” for Speed)
This part is technically optional, but becomes very important when the network is busy.Analogy: Think of it as leaving a tip for a waiter at a very crowded restaurant. A bigger tip makes your order more attractive to handle next.How it works: You specify a “price” you are willing to pay for each Compute Unit your transaction uses. This price is set in micro-lamports (millionths of a lamport). When the network is congested, validators (Leaders) are more likely to pick transactions with a higher prioritization fee because it earns them more money. This creates a dynamic marketplace for blockspace.
Where Does the Money Go? (The Economics)
The fee you pay doesn’t just vanish. It powers the network’s economic engine.
The Current System:
50% is Burnt: Half of all transaction fees are permanently destroyed or “burnt.” This removes SOL from the total supply, creating a deflationary pressure that can make the remaining SOL more valuable over time.50% Goes to the Leader: The other half is paid to the validator who buil the block as their reward for doing the work.
An Upcoming Change (SIMD 96):
The page notes a future update will change this model slightly to improve incentives.100% of the Prioritization Fee (the “tip”) will go to the Leader. This makes tipping even more effective at getting your transaction processed quickly.The Base Fee will remain unchanged (50% burnt, 50% to the Leader).
The Dance Between Your Wallet and an App
The diagram shows the step-by-step interaction that happens every time you use a decentralized application (dApp) on Solana, like an NFT marketplace or a trading platform.
Let’s follow the numbered steps in the diagram:
Step 1: Connect You visit a dApp and click the “Connect Wallet” button. The dApp asks your wallet for permission to view your public key (your address). Your wallet keeps your private key safely sandboxed and secret; the app never sees it.Step 2: Build Transaction You decide what you want to do on the app — for example, you input that you want to swap 1 SOL for some USDC. The dApp takes your intent and builds the Transaction Message that we learned about on the previous pages. It assembles the correct Instructions, Account Addresses, and gets a Recent Blockhash.Step 3 & 4: Sign and Return The dApp sends this unsigned transaction message to your wallet for approval. Your wallet (e.g., Phantom, Solflare) will show a popup.
This popup does two things:
It often simulates the transaction to show you the likely outcome (e.g., “You will receive ~150 USDC”).It asks you to approve or reject the transaction. When you click “Approve,” your wallet uses your secret private key to cryptographically sign the transaction. It then returns this signed package to the dApp.Step 5: Send to RPC The dApp now has the complete, user-authorized package. It sends this transaction to an RPC (Remote Procedure Call) provider. The RPC node is the essential on-ramp to the Solana network — it’s an intermediary service that takes the transaction from the application and broadcasts it to the validators to be processed.
Understanding “Failed” Transactions (A Common Misconception)
Now we will clarifies one of the most misunderstood concepts on Solana. What does it mean when your transaction “fails”?
It Does NOT Mean the Network Broke: A “failed transaction” on Solana is misleading. It does not mean your transaction was lost or that the network didn’t process it.It Means the Program Returned an Error: It means your transaction was successfully included in a block and executed, but the outcome of the execution was an error. You still pay the small base fee for the processing attempt.Analogy: Imagine submitting an application form to an office. You pay the processing fee, and the clerk successfully processes your form. However, they discover the item you applied for is out of stock, so they stamp “REJECTED” on it. The process worked perfectly, but the result was an error.The slide notes that over 80% of these “failures” are due to normal program logic (like trying to mint an NFT that has already sold out) and are often caused by trading bots trying to seize fleeting opportunities.
Our Story’s Conclusion
We have now seen the full picture from every angle.
The journey begins with you, the User, interacting with a dApp. The dApp builds a transaction, and your Wallet provides the secure Signature. The dApp then sends this package to an RPC node, which is the gateway to Solana’s high-speed network.
From there, your transaction is sorted by Gulf Stream, processed by the Leader, broadcast by Turbine, and finalized by network Consensus. You pay a tiny fee in lamports, part of which is burnt forever. Even if your transaction “fails,” it simply means the program you interacted with returned a logical error after being successfully executed.
From the core philosophy down to the final click in your wallet, this entire, deeply-integrated system is designed to provide a secure, low-cost, and exceptionally fast experience on a truly global scale.
✅ Disclaimer:
This blog is inspired by and simplified from the “Solana: How it Works” executive overview by Helius and Turbine. I’ve restructured and expanded the concepts with additional analogies and breakdowns to help beginners understand Solana’s architecture more easily.
Solana’s First Layer Explained: Users, Wallets, and Accounts was originally published in Coinmonks on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.