Solana blockchain network was launched in March 2020 and has become progressively popular since its inception as a result of its extensive scalability and mining productivity. It’s currently one of the top 10 public blockchain platforms with a large network and a market cap of USD$61 billion. Most investors are beginning to regard it as a worthy competitor and alternative to Ethereum. However, it’s important to note that crypto trading is a risky and volatile investment, so you need to know certain features about Solana in order to make the best decision.
Here are four things to know about Solana:
1. Solana’s Native Cryptocurrency Is SOL
SOL is the native cryptocurrency that runs on the Solana network. This makes Solana a versatile platform for running crypto apps ranging from decentralized finance (DeFi) solutions to the decentralized app (DApp) and other smart contracts. SOL tokens can be purchased on various popular exchange platforms. You can visit https://swyftx.com/au/buy/solana/ and others to buy SOL and also learn more about the Solana network.
The Solana SOL’s token can be used to pay for transactions and staking for users to become a validator. The chances of being chosen as a validator depend on the amount of SOL you hold. Validators are rewarded whenever they approve a transaction. On the network, users can trade, borrow, and leverage crypto assets. The Solana Foundation claims that a total of 489 million of SOL will be released and about 260 million is currently in the crypto market for public and private use, of which 12.92% were used for the founding sale. The price currently is USD$205.93 with a daily trading capacity of USD$2,395,550,431.
2. Solana Is Extensively Scalable
Solana is mostly referred to as an extensively scalable and the first real web-scale blockchain in the world. According to the developers, Solana has the ability to process more than 50,000 transactions per second (TPS), which promises faster operation and significantly lower transaction fees. This is possible with its use of proof of stake (PoS) and proof of history (PoH), which are blockchain algorithm mechanisms that aid higher throughput rates and speedy transactions. This mechanism makes its network scalable to meet the needs of the global crypto needs in a speedy manner.
It’s simply the fastest cryptocurrency on the blockchain. This is one of the reasons why it’s seen as an alternative to popular cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum, which are known to increase transaction fees and delay once they’re heavily congested. Ethereum is believed to process between 15 and 30 TPS compared to Solana.
3. Solana Secures Transaction With Proof Of History
The Solana network is a fourth-generation blockchain that achieves higher scalability with the use of proof of stake and proof of history without compromising on its security or decentralization. The proof of history consensus mechanism is designed to keep historical records of transactions on a decentralized network. This helps create a record more like the evidence of the transactions that happen at any specific given time. It functions like a cryptographic timestamp that keeps track of the time and events that occur on the network. This consensus algorithm allows the Solana system to jump many communication processes among validators, which makes it more efficient and has a higher throughput rate.
Bitcoin and Ethereum use the proof of work (PoW) validation model to keep network transactions secured. However, this makes the transaction processing not energy-efficient, with a noticeable high fee of transaction.
4. Solana Network Has Several Applications
The Solana network has more than 350 applications running on it that are gradually taking over the crypto market. These include DApp, Defi, gaming apps, and NFTs projects. These projects allow users to perform transactions and develop apps at a cost-effective rate. Among the popular Solana applications are Serum, Mango, Solarian, Raydium, Bonfida, Oxygen, Phantom Wallet, Synthetify Orca, Star Atlas, SolFarm, and others.
The Solana network is currently booming in the crypto market. These blockchain apps are built to allow DApp developers to easily launch the crypto app without the regular congestion and scalability issues faced on other networks with its proof of history and proof of stake algorithm mechanism.
When it comes to the application running on the Solana Network, Ethereum has more applications on it. Although Ethereum is slower, most developers are used to running their programming language on it.
Conclusion
Solana is currently one of the fastest blockchains with high throughput. It’s extensively scalable, using proof of history and proof of stake algorithm mechanism with more than 350 applications running on its network. All these properties make it a worthy crypto investment. However, crypto trading is extremely volatile, which is why you have to weigh your chances well if you’re considering investing in Solana.
