The past 2 years have been witness to a major boom in the world of cryptocurrency, from coins both old and new. Solana has found its way in the crypto world where memes have become tokens, top dogs face  challenges with new legislation and regulations, and some newcomers have been on the rise to puff out their chest and make a name.

Amongst all of the madness, one coin in particular has turned heads and caught eyes in recent months. That coin is called Solana – also known as SOL. Let’s take a quick dive into some of the details around Solana.

A SOL That Shines Bright

The initial idea for Solana was first published in 2017 by developer Anatoly Yakovenko, and SOL debuted last year in March. It’s value started to surge in a notable way last summer.

Solana is a public blockchain platform, and it is an open source and decentralized currency, with consensus achieved using proof of stake and proof of history. Once Solana officially launched, it was mainly designed to support smart contracts and the creation of decentralized applications, or dapps.

Bloomberg and many others have cited Solana to be “a potential long-term” token and “the answer to rival Ethereum,” particularly with regards to NFTs and DeFi. Bitwise Asset Management’s Chief Investment Officer said to CBS Make It that “Solana is the leading Ethereum competitor.” Solana can achieve more transactions per unit of time and has significantly lower fees compared to Ethereum, however has not seen the mainstream status of Ethereum due to the blockchain’s early-mover approach – despite it’s inability to make the proper rapid adjustments necessary to match competitors like SOL.

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SOL: SOL is currently sitting at 256.9500 with a 8% rise today | SOL-USD on TradingView.com

What Separates Solana From The Rest?

Solana is a PoS (proof of stake) blockchain, allowing it to work in a way that makes it more environmentally friendly than many of the top other coins in the market, including major players Ethereum and Bitcoin. At the start of 2021, SOL was worth around $1.50, and token’s market cap was around $86 million. It has gained over 12,300% since then – 1 SOL is now worth north of $200. With a market cap of almost $62 billion, Solana has become the sixth biggest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.

A risk many have cited is it’s longevity and ability to take out other technological platforms pushing the block chain forward. Stay tuned to see if SOL can stay on the tail of Ethereum and eventually take over the highly touted number 2 spot. With it being the 3rd fastest cryptocurrency in the world recently, and it’s notable rise this year, many are hopeful Solana will fulfill it’s purpose.

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