According to Blockworks, Code, a Solana-based crypto wallet, has fully open-sourced its code, making it one of the first Solana-based applications to do so using the MIT License. The MIT License allows users to copy software code and its associated files “as is,” enabling anyone to use, copy, modify, and distribute Code’s software without limitation. Tanner Philp, the chief operating officer of Code, stated that the MIT license is one of the most permissive licenses today, and the Bitcoin code base also uses it.
Philp explained that the team at Code subscribes heavily to Satoshi’s vision of creating a truly peer-to-peer electronic cash system, allowing anyone to validate and build upon the infrastructure itself. Traditionally, many apps built on the Solana blockchain have been built privately, with very few projects choosing to open-source their software. This is likely because the Solana blockchain attracts many developers who have built consumer products in Web2, according to Philp.
He added that this move to open-source Code is important for the Solana ecosystem as a whole, as it can allow the network to take on more of a leadership position. Open-sourcing software tools also show conviction in the tooling that has been built. The Code team was founded by the team behind the Canadian messaging app, Kik. After struggling to find an appropriate business model to sustain its operations at Kik, the team launched its own cryptocurrency, Kin (KIN). KIN was used to raise an initial coin offering (ICO) totaling $100 million for Kik, but after being fined $5 million by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Kik — now under new ownership — is no longer associated with KIN.