The Beginner’s Guide to Solana

This article is a beginner’s guide to Solana, the decentralized blockchain. By the end, you should be able to answer the following:

• What is Solana?
• How is Solana special?
• What are DApps?
• What is proof of history?
• Why is proof of history important?
• What are Solana (Sol) tokens?
• How to buy Sol tokens?

What is Solana?

Solana is a decentralized blockchain network built to rival Ethereum and offer scalability without compromising its security. Solana began its planning stage in 2017 and officially launched in March 2020.

What does Solana offer?

Solana offers effective scalability, which is something the blockchain community wants to master without diminishing security.

The speed of transactions offered by Solana is an innovation for the platform. The speed promised by Solana is 50,000 transactions per second on a single blockchain.

Solana is the fastest blockchain in the world. At this time, they have over 400 projects making it the fastest-growing ecosystem in the world. They have a range of project types in their ecosystem, including DeFi projects (Decentralized finance). DeFi is a term that refers to financial projects in blockchain intending to disrupt the current financial intermediaries that are in place.

Ethereum is the current leader in the DeFi blockchain market. It possesses a well-developed infrastructure and is a powerhouse of the crypto world. Ethereum has been unable to reach its full potential thus far. Mostly, it is due to its scalability limitations and high transaction (gas) fees.

Solana may be a smaller platform than Ethereum, but it’s gaining a lot of market traction. The increased market traction for Solana is down to its high throughput and low gas fees. For these reasons, many DeFi projects are moving to Solana or planning to shortly.

Solana news:

Solana has pushed advertisement to a new level in the crypto world. On the 29th of July this year, the music festival Lollapalooza kicked off in style in Chicago. Solana was the subject of many advertisements that featured prominently at the festival due to its sponsorship.

A large Solana banner was above Perry’s stage in full view of the thousands of festival-goers. There was also a Solana pool float which attracted a massive amount of attention on social media. No blockchain company is doing this kind of inventive advertising. It is effective in making sure Solana is the crypto company on everyone’s lips. From advertising at the festival, Solana enjoyed a 7% boost in the first 24 hours of the festival’s beginning.

Another development in Solana news is the integration of RenVM with the Solana blockchain. Users will now be able to bridge Solana assets through RenBridge. The development of cross-chain transfers is fascinating in the blockchain community, and it will enable different blockchains to connect.

DApps:

We’re going to make a small detour from our guide to Solana to talk about decentralized applications (DApps).

Solana best suits decentralized computing and creating DApps.

DApps (Decentralized apps) are like standard apps, but they run on a network like a blockchain, which is peer-peer. They operate on their own and are free from any entity. Data and records should be available forever. However, on decentralized applications, security intermediaries are not necessary. Cryptographic tokens help keep the networks secure.

Blockchain networks like Solana are vital in offering decentralized solutions to users. DApps are an extension of the overall vision of blockchain networks and are instrumental in improving the overall user experience.

What is proof of history (PoH)?

The rate of processing transaction promise from Solana is possible because of proof of history. PoH is one of two consensus mechanisms that crypto companies use to verify purchases.

Why proof of history is important?

According to Coinbase, the consensus mechanism “is a system that allows all the computers in a crypto network to agree about which transactions are legitimate.” By doing this, users will be able to cut out middlemen like Visa and PayPal. By cutting out the middlemen, the overall user experience will become more efficient.

What is a Sol token?

The lifeblood of the Solana platform is its token, Sol. Sol is the crypto gas that helps power the Solana platform. It offers low transaction costs and a high-speed promise for transactions. At the time of writing Sol was trading at just over $67.

The Sol token relates closely to the success of Solana. Solana (SOL) is in use for transaction fees for transfers and smart contracts. The success of Solana thus far has seen the value of Sol tokens rise considerably.

How to buy Sol tokens

Many platforms offer the chance to buy Sol crypto. All exchanges will be different, but you should only buy from exchanges that can legally trade in your country.

Two of the trading exchanges that have been around the longest are Coinbase and Binance. Both will have their sign-up requirements, such as the information you need to provide. Please note all exchanges ask for proof of identification.

If you’re considering expanding your crypto assets, a crypto wallet is a measure you should consider. Once you have signed up, there are various ways to deposit your money. The most common deposit methods are debit cards, credit cards, PayPal, and cryptocurrency.

Conclusion – The Beginner’s Guide to Solana

Solana has yet to comment on when it will stop identifying as a beta mainnet. The bugs that are present are preventing the company from progressing away from the beta mainnet tag.

Despite the bugs, the upside and future predictions have encouraged promising projects. For example, Raydium and Solstarter have selected Solana as the blockchain to build their projects.

The promise of fast transactions with low fees on a decentralized platform is an appealing entity to developers. Many are already seeing the potential scalability of Solana. Promising projects are abundant in the Solana ecosystem.

Solana is blazing a trail in the crypto world by proving you don’t have to choose between scale, security, and decentralization. Solana is promising you all three and solving a trilemma that has plagued the blockchain community.

With the current growth of Solana and its future predictions, it’s easy to see Solana having a vital role to play in the DeFi market.