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Solana account ownership: who may edit data?

Separate an owner program from a human holding a key.

  1. SignerAuthorizes
  2. ProgramChecks and writes
  3. Data account
Relationship sketch · arrows show responsibilities and connections, not a complete protocol sequence.

On Solana, an account stores state at an address. Its owner field identifies the program responsible for that account. This is a runtime permission concept, not a direct statement of who owns an asset in everyday language.

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In an illustrative profile application, a data account contains the profile and a program validates edits. The program must check the required signer or other authority before changing data. Knowing an account address does not grant permission to edit it.

Executable program code and mutable application data occupy different accounts. One program can operate on many data accounts. That separation is useful when comparing Solana with an EVM contract's storage model.

It also prevents an identity mistake: an account address, its owner program and a person's DID serve different roles. An application that links them must define and verify that relationship.

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Does owner mean the person with the private key?

For a Solana account, owner identifies a program.

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