April brought the heat at Neon

GM Neonauts,

April brought the heat at Neon!

Our Dev Bootcamp is officially kicking off: 10 weeks of hands-on building, real mentorship, and actual rewards for EVM devs ready to ship fast on Solana. Haven’t checked it out yet? Now’s the time — last chance to join.

On the tech side, we released a fresh Composability Whitepaper, upgraded the ERC20forSPL contract for smoother Solana - Neon transfers, and made solid progress across Devnet, UX, and docs.

The community’s been busy too — so let’s get into it. Plenty to catch up on.

Deep tech, smooth UX

The latest upgrades are all about removing friction, building toward a Solana-native future that just works.

1. New Composability Whitepaper

   Seamless EVM–Solana smart contract interaction? Yes, please. We broke it all down in our new Whitepaper: a deep dive into how Ethereum-compatible dApps on Neon can natively call Solana programs. No more code rewrites. Check the magic in this article.

2. ERC20forSPL Contract Upgrade

   Our devs shipped a major upgrade to the ERC20forSPL contract, now supporting automatic asset transfers between Solana and Neon EVM. That means 100% Solana-native UX. No more friction. The update is already live and tested on Devnet, with the Mainnet rollout planned by the end of May 2025. All you need to know, here.

   
   

Product in Motion: better flow, smarter tools

1. Catalyst Phase: Let’s Go

   We’ve officially entered the Catalyst phase of our 2025 roadmap, focused on developer adoption and giving builders everything they need to thrive on Solana. If you missed the AMA where we broke it all down, catch the replay here.

2. Gas Cost Optimization

   Lower gas fees are on the horizon. We’re testing pricing adjustments in a local environment to make deploying and transacting on Neon more cost-effective for devs and users alike.

3. Tracer and Indexer Enhancements

   The Tracer API is getting tuned to handle heavier data loads, and indexer testing on Devnet is nearly wrapped. Final optimizations in progress.

Community at Work

From the Neon Dev Bootcamp to IRL events, April was a big one for our community.

1. Neon Dev Bootcamp is LIVE

   Introducing the first-ever incentivized learning program for EVM devs who ship at the speed of light. Learn, build, get mentored by the best, and earn. Catch all the details.

   
   

2. New Dev Community on X: Neon EVM Builders

   Hey builders, you like Telegram? We got you. Love Discord? Of course. But if X is your thing—here’s your new home for all things Neon. Join the Neon EVM Builders community on X and go wild — we can’t wait to RT the best content.

3. Dev Tutorials

   “Hey agent, deploy a smart contract on Neon EVM.” In Part 2 of our ElizaOS tutorial series, you’ll learn how to build a plugin action that deploys a contract from setup to live deployment. Check it out.

4. Events and Contests

   • 🇹🇷 Solana Crossroads

     Our Lead Technical Business Analyst, Greg Gancarczyk, hit the stage with a talk on how we’re making Solana the home for EVM dApps.

     Also: shoutout to @lifeofedi_ for crushing our SuperteamEarn challenge and earning a free pass with a killer Network Extension thread. Read it here

   • 🇵🇱 Thank You Kraków

     Over 70 people showed up for Superteam Poland’s first-ever Solana UNI DAY—what a vibe. Big shoutout to our Lead TBA Grzegorz Gancarczyk (yes, him again) for the 🔥 presentation

5. Interviews & AMAs

   • Dev Bootcamp AMA

     Over 200 joined live to get the lowdown on the Bootcamp. If you missed it, shame! But no worries, you can watch the replay.

   • Community Town Hall

     On April 22, we went live on Discord to talk Neon plans, tech improvements, and answer whatever came our way. Catch the recording here.

Oh, and in case you didn’t notice — we did all of it in a brand new logo(who dis?).

Fresh look, bigger plans, stronger community. May’s already rolling and the Neon kitchen stays busy. Keep building, and we’ll see you soon in the next update.

Thanks for reading us!

Disclaimer: Solana is a trademark of the Solana Foundation. The use of the word 'Solana' in our materials solely reflects the Neon EVM products' or services' compatibility with the Solana network.