Solana is among the top 10 cryptos globally. Want to have an in-depth idea of Solana? This review from Tokize shall offer all the answers you need.
The birth of Solana (SOL) is an answer to congestion issues on the Ethereum network. While Ethereum’s transaction per second limit was 45, Solana had a remarkable processing of 65,000 transactions per second. The development team even disclosed that the Solana blockchain will be capable of running up to 710,000 when the project attains the required number of validators.
Solana is, ultimately, a programmable blockchain, just like Ethereum. There has, thus, been an upsurge of dApps projects (decentralized applications), already more than 400! Those with immense prospects concentrate on the most alluring niches in the market, including NFTs, DeFi, and gaming. It is vital to recall:
STEPN: a fitness application that gives users the option to buy a pair of sneakers in the form of an NFT. From then on, they will be qualified to try to win rewards during running or walking trips.
Solana’s story began in 2017 when the famous Anatoly Yakovenko unveiled his ambitious crypto Solana project. In addition to designing, the Solana founder also set up the proof-of-history protocol. Full details of the timestamping procedure are in an original white paper.
With the support of its growing community, Solana devised incentive strategies in 2019 to develop crypto, a true stroke of genius. In 2020, the company began selling tokens in line with an additional raising of $1.76 million. The same year, the beta version of the Mainnet was launched while the SOL crypto traded at just under 1 USD in May.
The growth of the Solana price began to take off in 2021, with the price of Solana having hit almost $260 in November 2021! Undoubtedly, Solana piqued the interest of investors who threw themselves into the project en masse during the bull run of the cryptocurrency market (see price) of the year.
Yet, SOL’s price also suffered the fall of the crypto market in 2022, with an initial fall to $30, before sinking to around $13 at the end of the year. Since the start of 2023, the Solana price has undergone ups and downs, fluctuating between $16 and $26. Its current average is around $22. As of the time of this writing, Solana’s price in USD is $19.79.
The design goal of Solana crypto was to provide solutions to distinctive problems. At first glance, it was essential to rectify the deficiencies of decentralization to enable each company to have a blockchain worthy of its evolution. To do this, developers have set up several protocols.
For instance, consider a transaction on a blockchain; the average cost to expect is only $0.00001. After definitive speed tests, it appears that it is competent to carry out up to 56,000 transactions in one second. A remarkable performance that places Solana crypto well above its direct competitors, Bitcoin (read BTC review) and Ethereum (read ETH review), which are able to process only 7 and 15 transactions per second, respectively.
The advent of blockchain seemed to bring more peace of mind to cryptocurrency holders regarding the security of their investments. At least, that was the established wisdom at the time, as these systems were deemed untouchable. However, several vulnerabilities have been registered over time. This is the case with Ethereum, with data congestion a major flaw of its infrastructure.
Thus, the Solana blockchain had to be more definitive, by having a platform that incorporates speed, efficiency, and security. The developers were right; Solana’s performance surpassed expectations. In addition, it relished more incredible opposition to censorship, which promoted its expansion around the world.
A web3 smartphone made in Solana is announced for 2023, while the native blockchain maintains its place in the top 10 largest capitalizations.
Solana is a successful cryptocurrency that witnessed an increase of more than 2000% in 2021. It is, therefore, perfect for diversifying your asset portfolio or investing in a cryptocurrency with high potential. In this part, find out where and how to buy Solana online.
The OKX cryptocurrency exchange platform is an interesting option thanks to the diversity of its services, such as trading, mining pools, staking, access to DeFi, blockchain games, and even NFTs. With over 270 known assets, including Solana, and over 30 fiat currencies, OKX is a comprehensive platform. Fees are competitive and can be reduced to holding OKB, the broker’s native token.
Here are the steps to follow to buy Solana on OKX:
eToro (read review) is also a platform of choice for purchasing cryptocurrencies, including Solana. To do this, simply open an account, provide proof of identity and address, make a first deposit of funds, and search for Solana in the list of cryptocurrencies available for purchase in the interface, eToro trading. The fees are €5 per transaction, and an exchange rate is applied according to each currency pair.
Crypto.com (see its wallet) is another renowned exchange that offers nearly 250 cryptocurrencies, including Solana. In addition to buying and selling cryptocurrencies, the platform also offers trading, staking, swapping of cryptocurrencies, access to DeFi, and a standalone wallet. It also has its own Visa card, available in 5 levels with advantages for their holders, as well as an NFT marketplace.
In summary, these three platforms are interesting options for buying Solana online. Also, you can engage in Solana staking – earning rewards by simply holding SOL -on many crypto exchanges. OKX stands out for the great diversity of its services, eToro is regulated by leading organizations and offers a diverse catalog, and Crypto.com has its own Visa card and an NFT marketplace. It is important to compare fees and services before making your choice.
Solana implements a hybrid system for mining. For example, Cardano uses the Proof-of-Stake model, while Bitcoin has chosen the Proof-of-Work model. Well, on Solana, it’s not just one protocol but two! Indeed, the SOL blockchain uses the POS model but also the one called Proof-of-History (POH). This hybridization makes it possible to accelerate the work of miners and to pace it precisely over time.
Concretely, with POH (Proof-of-History), validators know precisely when they must carry out their task, which minimizes interactions and parallelizes actions. Thus, at regular intervals, validators send validated blocks to the blockchain. Since internet speeds are different, these blocks do not necessarily arrive in the right order. Also, it is necessary to reorder them before recording them on the blockchain.
To take a quick comparison, let’s assume you want to receive one letter per day from a loved one. To do this, one solution is to send a first letter to your parents and wait for their response. Then the next day, you could do the same with your grandparents. A simpler solution (and this is the principle of POH) would be to propose a precise schedule to your family, establishing who should write the letter according to the day. Depending on the distance, you may not receive the letters in the expected order, so you will need to reorder them.
With the POH, Solana can pride itself on being a sober network from an environmental point of view. This is an area where the Solana developers like to show off their results! Thus, in November 2021, a study prepared by the Solana Foundation quantified the energy cost of a SOL transaction at 1,837 J.
What does this represent? As the study shows, a transaction in SOL consumes barely less energy than a Google search (1,080 J). On the other hand, it is much better than:
It is no news that the NFT sector is very popular. Moreover, in 2021, the NFT market reached a capitalization of $41 billion. Also, it is rational that blockchains adapted to decentralized applications seek to position themselves in such a promising sector.
In this area, unsurprisingly, Ethereum is the leader. Most NFT marketplaces have found refuge in Ethereum. But the Solana blockchain has also opened up to NFTs. Currently, it is even considered the 2nd blockchain in terms of NFTs. Solana now has NFT sales and purchase platforms on its own blockchain.
Solana (SOL), as a crypto, keeps attracting more and more investors for numerous reasons.
First and foremost, its innovative feature is a key factor. The “proof-of-history” (PoH) consensus is a major innovation in the field of cryptocurrency, which was developed by Anatoly Yakovenko. This innovation allows for more significant scalability of the protocol, making Solana more effortless to use. The easier a service is to use, the more interest it generates, and the more its value is likely to advance.
Speed of transfers is another factor that makes Solana appealing to investors. The Solana blockchain is reputed for offering very short processing time thanks to its hybrid protocol, which remarkably reduces validation time for the execution of transactions and smart contracts. This speed has also garnered a lot of interest among institutions.
Project scalability is also another key benefit of Solana. The Solana network was designed to meet the needs of individuals and businesses. Solana customers are assured that there will be no unforeseen increases in fees and taxes. The protocol is designed to make transaction costs low while ensuring scalability and speed of transaction processing.
The Solana price has remained stable so far, but analysts envision an upward trend in the coming years. The innovations promised by the crypto project and its growing popularity make it an asset with very high potential. Trading Education predicts a price of around $2,100 in 2030 for Solana, while Cryptocurrency Price Prediction expects a price of $3,000 by 2030.
Often regarded as one of the next “Ethereum killers” in the market, Solana is a protocol that promises faster transactions at an extremely reduced cost, averaging $0.00025 per transaction. The rationale behind this incredible performance lies in a new technological innovation called “Proof of History (PoH),” which serves as an internal clock for the network, enabling transactions to be precisely dated.
Compared to other blockchains, which use a third-party clock to date transactions, PoH is a substantial improvement in the speed of transactions. While no investment is without risk, Solana’s future has garnered investor excitement due to its prominent innovations and rising cryptocurrency adoption.
So, is Solana a good investment? Ultimately, our opinion on Solana is rather upbeat, considering that the protocol is the most innovative in the group of Ethereum killers (Avalanche, Cardano, Polygon). The innovations present are crucial, and the support of renowned institutions has had a small effect. However, we have recently been informed of some outages recorded by its blockchain, which remains in beta.
As with any investment, it is vital to do thorough market research and understand the associated risks, but Solana presents itself as an attractive option for those interested in investing in cryptocurrency.
About the author
Tobi began his career in 2017 as a crypto writer, where he focused on producing educational content. He worked with Stockbossup, an investment platform dedicated to educating black people. Prior to that, he worked as a copywriter with Turboxbt, a crypto trading platform. In 2021, Tobi joined Watcher Guru as a crypto news editor. He was recognized as one of the top 333 web3 creators on LinkedIn for crypto in 2022.