So you’ve heard about the Solana blockchain protocol, and you want to learn more? You’re in luck.
SOL is the native token of the Solana blockchain, which fuels all transactions on-chain and allows network participation through staking.
Solana is a new blockchain protocol designed to scale at high speeds on par with centralized systems yet remain decentralized like today’s blockchains. It was built by an experienced team, including former BitTorrent CEO Bram Cohen, who invented a decentralized file-sharing system that has served 1 billion users.
Solana’s programming language is similar to Rust, which is considered one of the “safest” languages. The project has received $20 million in funding from some of the biggest VC names in Silicon Valley.
So what is SOL? SOL or Solana also refers to the cryptocurrency developed based on the system. It is one of the most secure and scalable cryptos due to the platform it is based on. It is one of the best performing altcoins in the market today.
Designed to Scale at High Speeds
Solana’s platform uses Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus, which is an environmentally friendly alternative to Proof of Work (PoW). With PoS, instead of having miners race against each other to solve more math problems, participants in the network stake their coins and vote on blocks as they are created. This approach cuts down on energy consumption significantly because there’s no need for powerful machines sifting through billions of hashes per second.
Solana has already started listing on exchanges and adding liquidity, two things that will help them get a leg up in the world of decentralized finance (DeFi).
As you may already know, blockchains are limited in the number of transactions they can process per second. The blockchain that powers Bitcoin, for example, is able to process about 7 transactions per second. This limitation makes Bitcoin slow and inefficient when compared to existing centralized networks like Visa or Mastercard.
Solana is a new blockchain protocol designed to scale at high speeds. Solana’s developers claim that their network will be able to process up to 50,000 transactions per second and finalize transaction confirmations in 1 second or less. To put this into perspective, Centralized payment systems like Visa average around 1,700 transactions per second (TPS).
The Project Has a Strong Team
Beyond its technological superiority and platform partnerships, Solana is also led by a top-tier team with experience in building other highly scalable blockchain networks like Zilliqa and Ethereum. The Solana team has already proven they have the necessary skill set to build this network from scratch, so you can be sure your investment is going towards an experienced group of developers that know what they are doing.
The core development team at Solana is backed by an extensive list of advisors. These advisors include some of the most well-known names in the crypto space, including Balaji Srinivasan (former CTO of Coinbase) and David Sacks (founder of PayPal).
Uses Proof of Stake (POS) And Is Environmentally Friendly
Solana uses a consensus mechanism called Proof of Stake (PoS), as opposed to the more commonly used Proof of Work (PoW). The latter is utilized by popular digital assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum and requires miners or validators to use a significant amount of energy in order to solve computational problems. This leads to the creation of new digital assets, while PoS is used to process, validate and secure transactions.
Many experts believe that PoW is environmentally unfriendly as it consumes vast amounts of energy. PoS, on the other hand, utilizes significantly fewer resources. When you factor in environmental concerns along with scalability issues related to high gas fees on Ethereum and its inability to meet peak demand levels due to block sizes being full during times of high traffic, Solana becomes an attractive choice for investors looking for long-term growth opportunities.
SOL Token Has a Promising Future in the DeFi Space
Solana has shown it is possible to build decentralized finance (DeFi) applications on its blockchain. Solana is one of the fastest blockchains in existence, which means that users could be able to take part in yield farming on Solana without dealing with high fees or the risk of missing out on a profitable opportunity.
The DeFi space is still nascent, and many new protocols are being developed, but if Solana can become a leader in the space, it may mean an increased demand for SOL tokens. Additionally, SOL is currently very cheap compared to other popular cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum, so you can buy more of them than you would be able to with other coins.
Conclusion
You’re not alone in wanting to expand your cryptocurrency portfolio. Knowing which crypto assets are poised for long-term success is a difficult but important choice. As you can see, Solana has many things going for it: its fast speed, low transaction fees, and high transaction capacity make it stand out from the competition.
Additionally, $8M of SOL tokens were put aside specifically to incentivize developers who build on Solana. These factors combined make it a solid investment choice if you’re looking for an alternative to Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain!
So what are you waiting for? It’s time to join the 400 validators on Solana’s network and start HODLing today by investing in some SOL now!