Solana (blockchain platform)

Solana is a public blockchain platform with smart contract functionality. Its native cryptocurrency is SOL. Solana claims to offer faster transaction times and lower costs than its main competitor, Ethereum.

Solana
Icon of Solana
Denominations
Symbol◎
CodeSOL
Development
Original author(s)Anatoly Yakovenko, Greg Fitzgerald, Stephen Akridge,[1] Raj Gokal [2]
White paperhttps://solana.com/solana-whitepaper.pdf
Initial releaseApril 2019
Code repositoryhttps://github.com/solana-labs/solana
Development statusActive
Written inRust
Developer(s)Solana Labs & Solana Foundation
Source modelOpen source
LicenseApache 2.0
Websitehttps://solana.com/
Ledger
Block time400ms
Block explorerhttps://explorer.solana.com/
Circulating supply308,704,493.99 SOL (as 24th Dec 2021)
Valuation
Exchange rateUS$123 (April 2022)
Market cap$40B (April 2022)

History

Solana was proposed in a white paper Anatoly Yakovenko which was published in November of 2017. This paper described a technique called "proof of history" which Yakovenko claimed would be significantly faster than existing blockchains.[3]

In 2021, Bloomberg journalist Joanna Ossinger described Solana as "a potential long-term rival for Ethereum", citing superior transaction speeds and lower associated costs.[4][5]

On 14 September 2021, the Solana blockchain went offline after a surge of transactions caused the network to fork, and different validators had different views on the state of the network. The network was brought back online the next day on 15 September 2021.[6]

On 16 December 2021, former First Lady of the United States Melania Trump announced her plans to use Solana to launch a non-fungible token (NFT).[7] The Solana Foundation issued a press release to clarify that her choice of the platform was not officially "part of any Solana-led initiative."[8]

Design

Solana achieves consensus using a proof-of-stake mechanism, as well as a "proof-of-history" mechanism which Solana's whitepaper claims improves scalability without sacrificing decentralization and security.[9]

As of 2021, Solana can handle 50,000 transactions per second, which is faster than the Ethereum blockchain, but still less than the 400,000 transactions seen during the spike.[10]

Like various other blockchains, Solana can run smart contracts, known as Solana Programs. The execution environment is based on eBPF, which allows the Rust, C, and C++ programming languages to be used.[11]

See also

References
  1. "History". Solana.com. Solana Foundation. Retrieved 10 February 2022.
  2. "India Will Push Blockchain Platform Solana Get To 1 Bn Users: Cofounder Raj Gokal". Inc42 Media. 2021-09-18. Retrieved 2022-01-11.
  3. "History | Solana Docs". docs.solana.com. Retrieved 2022-03-17.
  4. Ossinger, Joanna (7 September 2021). "Solana's SOL Token Weathers the Crypto Tumble Sparked by Bitcoin". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  5. Ossinger, Joanna (5 September 2021). "Ethereum Rival Solana Climbs to Seventh in Crypto Top 10". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  6. Shumba, Camomile (15 September 2021). "Solana says it is back up and running after a surge in transactions caused the network to crash the day before". Business Insider. Retrieved 2 December 2021 – via Yahoo News.
  7. Ballentine, Claire; Klimasinska, Kasia; Jacobs, Jennifer (16 December 2021). "Melania Trump Is Releasing an NFT That Will Cost 1 SOL Each". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 18 December 2021.
  8. Riaz, Saleha (17 December 2021). "Solana and MoonPay distance themselves from Melania Trump NFT venture". Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved 18 December 2021. Meanwhile a Solana representative said that 'to avoid any confusion... her [Melania Trump] choice to use the Solana blockchain was completely organic and this project is not part of any Solana-led initiative.'
  9. Locke, Taylor (2021-11-05). "Solana is up 12,000% this year—what to know before buying the Ethereum competitor". CNBC. Retrieved 2021-12-02.
  10. Prabhjote, Gill (15 September 2021). "It's DeFi season and things got a little too hot to handle for Solana and Arbitrum One as transaction volumes ballooned". Business Insider India. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  11. "Overview | Solana Docs". docs.solana.com. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
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