What is Solana?

Solana is a high-performance blockchain founded by former Qualcomm, Intel, and Dropbox engineers. It uses a delegated Proof-of-Stake (dPoS) consensus algorithm. The network uses a unique method of ordering transactions to significantly improve its speed and throughput.

Solana has been called “the Ethereum killer” as more developers have been turning to the platform to build their own decentralized apps (dapps) and cryptocurrencies.

Blockchain networks have historically struggled with scalability issues, with the few that managed to solve them dealing with centralization issues. A decentralized network with small confirmation times and transaction fees has been hard to create, but the problem was tackled in 2017 with the creation of Solana.


Using what’s known as Proof-of-History (PoH), the Solana blockchain is able to handle thousands of transactions per second. PoH uses Verifiable Delay Functions to hash incoming events and transactions to allow nodes to locally generate timestamps of SHA256 computations, eliminating the need for timestamps to be broadcasted across the network.

Feb 2022 Updates

SOL has not been immune to the “crypto winter,” i.e. the recent market plunge that’s affected Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, which some investors speculate will turn into a prolonged downward trajectory. Regardless, Solana’s momentum towards being a leading blockchain platform progressed this week with a new launch.

Solana Pay is a new way for merchants to accept crypto payments with Solana-based tokens like USDC, a stablecoin tied to the US Dollar. It was developed with partners Checkout.com (which just raised $1B), Circle (which founded USDC), Citcon (a mobile wallet payment provider), and wallets Slope and Phantom (a Golden Kitty Award nominee for web3). The makers are also working on an integration with Shopify.

Solana Pay provides merchants and customers with a direct link through a decentralized payment gateway. Merchants can avoid using credit card companies. Smart contracts allow consumers to hold their funds in escrow for large purchases. Solana Pay is also attractive for the speed and cost of transactions. Ethereum is too slow for transactions to be confirmed within a reasonable time frame. Plus it costs more.

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