Solana is an open-source blockchain designed to host and manage decentralised apps.
Founded in 2017, Solana can process up to 65,000 transactions per second at a comparatively low cost compared to Ethereum and Avalanche.
The blockchain is based on a proof-of-stake model and is known as one of the most eco-friendly blockchains among its competitors.
What is Solana (SOL)?
Solana is an open-source public blockchain that hosts a variety of decentralised apps. The network was created by Anatoly Yakovenko, who formerly worked at Qualcomm.
Solana utilises a unique mix of proof of history (PoH) and proof of stake (PoS) consensus mechanisms and was primarily created to tackle Ethereum's scalability issues.
Solana consensus
Solana's PoH consensus makes use of timestamps to define the next block in its chain. Time stamps contribute to Solana's fast processing speeds.
The network's proof-of-stake consensus allows validators to stake a fixed amount of SOL as collateral to verify blocks on the chain.
Due to Solana's innovative hybrid consensus model, the blockchain is heavily used by institutional traders.
The blockchain's hybrid protocol allows "decreased validation times" for both transactions and smart contracts. This makes Solana different from other blockchains in terms of speed and scalability.
As mentioned above, Solana is extremely efficient in terms of transaction processing and is capable of processing nearly 65,000 transactions per second.
The blockchain has now evolved into a holistic ecosystem that offers a variety of services to its users.
The SOL token
Solana's native cryptocurrency, SOL, can be used to purchase other digital goods and services on Solana's decentralised applications.
The blockchain can also be used to create and deploy NFTs and offers facilities for creating permissionless payment apps.
Learn more about cryptocurrencies: Avalanche (AVAX), Polygon (MATIC), Osmosis (OSMO), Evmos (EVMOS), Quant (QNT)