Solana is a high-performance blockchain supporting builders around the world creating crypto apps that scale today.

Anatoly Yakovenko and Raj Gokal launched Solana back in 2017. These two developers are still significantly involved with Solana Labs, which is the company behind Solana. Yakovenko is Solana Labs’ current CEO and Gokal its COO.

Solana is a public and open-source programmable blockchain, meaning it supports smart contracts. However, in the case of Solana, the latter are called “programs”, though they play the same role as smart contracts.

As such, Solana programs are key to Solana programming. Moreover, as mentioned in the introduction, just like Ethereum, Solana supports the development of fungible and non-fungible tokens. Of course, it is also a network on which devs can deploy all sorts of dapps.

Furthermore, Solana’s native coin or token is called “SOL”. This native currency is used to provide network security via Solana’s hybrid DeFi staking consensus, to pay the transaction fees, and to transfer the value on this chain.

The network acts as a public blockchain, which means that it is not controlled by a central entity. This makes it decentralized and self-sufficient. The platform’s code is also open-source, which adds to its status as a publicly-developed blockchain network.

Solana has its own eponymous token that is traded with the ticker of SOL. As of mid-October 2021, the token ranks in the Top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap.

This outlines the sought after status of the token, which has surpassed many other cryptocurrencies in just over 2 years of its launch.

The SOL token uses a proof-of-history (PoH) timing mechanism. This timing mechanism keeps a record of transactions, while also facilitating the network’s proof-of-stake (PoS) protocol.

This method supports the blockchain’s goals to achieve higher scalability and throughout. This also earns SOL the ability to process more than 50,000 transactions per second.

Since the start of the year, Solana‘s expense has declined like a couple of altcoins ensuing to record highs for by far most of 2021. In any case, many tolerate it as a sign to buy the dive, and throughout the week, Solana has validated itself as excellent advanced money.

The Bank of America, in an investigation note resulting to working with Solana Foundation part Lily Liu, saw that Solana could be the accompanying Visa of the Digital asset world. Since its presentation in 2020, Solana has seen fast gathering.

Master Alkesh Shah communicated in a report that Solana has settled north of 50 billion trades, has more than $11 billion in complete worth locked, and has been used to convey more than 5.7 million non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Solana is planned for buyer use cases like micropayments and gaming, as shown by the bank.

Because of its low costs and speedy trade rates, the Solana show has been named the “Visa of the electronic asset organic framework.” According to the bank’s inspectors, it might even overpower Ethereum as the trailblazer among adroit agreement engaged blockchains.

“It progresses flexibility,” says master Alkesh Shah, “yet a less decentralized and safe blockchain has compromises, as affirmed by various association execution stresses since creation.” In a tweet on Wednesday, Arthur Cheong, coordinator of Defiance Capital, communicated, “It’s charming how the NFT organic framework on @solana is thriving now notwithstanding the way that it’s worked with features that are improved for finance use cases (fast square time, insignificant cost, speedy irreversibility).”

However, that isn’t all! Binance.US is setting up a presence in Portals, a Solana-based metaverse stage. Clients can explore structures and natural rooms in Portals, which imitates a thick metropolitan air. In a tweet to CoinDesk, Portals head of neighborhood affiliations, Chris Lund said, “Binance.US is getting a spot in Portals Downtown with an accentuation on bringing the latest news, diagrams, and events electronically.”

Notwithstanding, it wasn’t the really advanced cash that drew the thought of crypto enthusiasts this week; Shiba Inu, a well-known picture coin, saw a 30% cost increase after blabber-mouthy goodies about a posting on Robinhood. The canine-themed picture coin’s 30% flood has started a bullish reversal plan, and crypto aficionados surmise concerning what the new posting will mean for SHIB.

With it soverall ecosystem, Solana makes way for developers to launch their own cryptocurrency or blockchain solutions with ease. These new platforms can then interact with each other to support the exchanging and swapping of Solana-based tokens within its ecosystem.

It is a blockchain development platform that allows you to create your very own blockchain solution. In this sense, the Solana platform behaves similarly to Ethereum and holds the ability to have an entirely new ecosystem created on its parent blockchain. But it stands apart from Ethereum in terms of its overall speed and ability to scale with higher usage.

Further cementing its comparison to Ethereum, Solana also uses a smart contracts-based system. This allows you to create your own solutions with a rule-based approach. At the same time, it also paves the way to developing entirely new services altogether. This means that developers who use the blockchain network to create new programs or solutions can also launch their own tokens.

A large portion of the fervor around Solana stems from this very thought of creating new solutions. Having the ability to scale these creations in the face of higher usage is also a big reason why the network has received such a warm reception from developers and users alike.

In many ways, this response stems from the possibility that if given the chance, Solana could solve the scalability and speed problems that Ethereum falls prey to every now and then.

In turn, this makes way for a higher level of interest in Solana and makes it known across various segments of the cryptocurrency industry. Even those who had been asking what is Solana earlier this year have entertained the idea of Solana becoming a permanent part of the cryptocurrency world.

Guide To Solana

With the help of smart contracts, you can set an abundance of conditions to any action or transaction. This also lets you create highly reliable decentralized applications (DApps) that come with the security, safety, and dependability of a fast-functioning blockchain platform. Many of the use cases of Solana relate to financial utilities, but the network also creates favorable conditions for entertainment as well as security-based applications.

When combined with Solana’s proposed speed for scalability and expanded transactions, these qualities act as the unique selling points of the platform. In addition to driving more developers its way, this also provides the solution with more general users who want to benefit from these features.

This describes what is Solana and what purpose it serves to an extent. But the real appeal of the platform lies within its use case in decentralized finance (DeFi). Since DeFi relies on using self-sufficient and decentralized applications to perform financial transactions, Solana’s ecosystem and its promise of fast transactions provides the perfect conditions for DeFi to thrive.

The promise of DeFi holds several benefits in itself. For one, it removes the requirement of third-parties such as underwriters or loan agents. In turn, it reduces the costs that are otherwise involved in financial transactions due to these third-parties. This also leads to faster transactions, more accessible financial instruments, and more transparent and open transactions.

That is why, many DeFi enthusiasts are flocking towards the Solana platform to either develop new DeFi applications or check the capabilities of already-developed solutions. With the rise of DeFi in applications such as lending and trading, this has boosted Solana’s popularity to new heights.

Where Can I Buy Solana?

You can purchase Solana through a variety of cryptocurrency exchanges.

Some of the most popular exchanges where you can buy and sell Solana include but are not limited to the following.

1. Binance
2. Bitfinex
3. Huobi Global
4. FTX
5. FTX US
6. OKEx

If a platform allows you to buy and sell Solana, there is a high possibility that you can also find a cryptocurrency trading bot to facilitate your activities on it. This allows you to trade Solana in a way that lets you keep up with rapid fluctuations and changing market conditions.

Now that you know what is Solana and where to trade it, it’s important to remember that the funds you use for buying and selling do not comprise your entire savings or livelihood. Since cryptocurrency is a volatile market, it’s important you trade responsibly and with funds that you can afford to lose. This allows you to see profits without taking an unthinkable risk.

As long as you keep this in mind, you can make the most out of trading Solana as it makes its journey to become a highly popular offering.

What Does Solana Have To Offer?

Since Solana is very directly competing with Ethereum, you may want to know what does Solana do when put in the same shoes as the famed network itself. To give you a quick demonstration, let’s take a look at some of Solana’s ecosystem platforms.

GenesysGo (Infrastructure Development Platform)

GenesysGo is an infrastructure platform within Solana. Essentially, the platform makes it even easier for new users to use blockchain technology through Solana. This makes the platform a promising player in the Solana ecosystem.

SolaVerse (NFT Marketplace)

SolaVerse is a digital art and non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace that operates on the Solana platform. Banking on the popularity of NFTs, the platform makes it easy for creators to sell their digital art through blockchain.

SolDate (Dating Platform)

SolDate prides itself on being the first decentralized dating service that is also built on blockchain technology. The platform provides an innovative use case of decentralized apps by relying on the security that is offered by blockchain technology.

SolanaFM (Data Indexer)

SolanaFM is an indexing engine that allows you to find different sets of data through simple queries. The platform makes it easier to use Solana by keeping all relevant information a few keystrokes away.

Space Hamster (Collectible NFTs)

Space Hamster is a collectible NFT exchange and marketplace that sells unique tokens in the form of cartoon hamster likenesses. The project can be directly compared to the CryptoKitties platform on Ethereum, even though Space Hamster has a long way to go.

There are several other platforms on the Solana blockchain that are either already active or remain in the development process. Not all of these blockchains and respective apps may have the potential to go the distance. However, nearly all of them highlight different use cases of what is Solana offering to its users.

DeFi is the Prime Offering by Solana

It is also important to note that even though all use cases have something to highlight about the platform, it is DeFi that sees the most interest. For instance, out of the current 423 applications currently listed on Solana’s website, 112 belong to DeFi. With that being said, it’s important to note this number is bound to change due to how rapidly applications are debuting on the platform.

These offerings include but are not limited to the following.

8Pay

8Pay is a DApp that allows you to orchestrate and execute on-demand payments through blockchain technology. This makes it the equivalent to many digital wallets that let you receive payments through invoices or requests. The app can be integrated with wallets such as MetaMask and Ledger Wallet and works with exchanges such as Bithumb Global and Uniswap.

Serum

Serum is a decentralized exchange (DEX) that is powered by FTX as well as other developers. In order to support its operations, the platform uses an on-chain central limit order book (CLOB). This makes it different from many other DEX that have to operate a part of their system off-chain.

Bonfida

Bonfida highlights what does Solana do for its users. Built on top of Serum, the app serves the purpose of delivering data-driven analytics to the user. This adds more transparency to Serum’s operations while also helping you through the advantages of data visualization.

Waves

Waves uses Gravity’s cross-chain and blockchain-agnostic system to connect its exchange with Solana. This allows users to perform data transfers between other participants of the Gravity network that include names such as Tron and Binance Smart Chain.

Credit Risk Lending Protocol

The Solana CRLP is a proof of concept to outline how Solana’s smart contracts can be used for DeFi lending using under-collateralized loans without any know your customer (KYC) protocols.

As mentioned above, there are many other DeFi apps that are built on Solana. Since the network is currently in its fast growth phase, this list of apps can continue to grow in the next few months.