Abstract: Solana is a high-performance blockchain platform designed to support decentralized applications and crypto-native ecosystems at scale.
Solana is an “anomaly” in the blockchain world, as it uses a different clock mechanism than traditional blockchains such as Bitcoin. Because it uses a different clock mechanism than traditional blockchain, traditional blockchain, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cosmos, etc., will be coupled with the time and state, only the birth of a new block can produce a globally consistent state.
Solana, on the other hand, provides globally available clocks that decouple hash-based time chains from state updates, and instead of linking the hashes of each block together, verifiers in the network continually hash these hashes within the block itself. This mechanism is called POH (Proof of History).
SOL is a native token on the Solana chain that uses a delegated PoS consensus algorithm, where miners are rewarded for delegating SOL to verified nodes to participate in maintaining the network. SOL has three main use cases: pledging, transaction fees, and governance.
SOL has risen more than 36 times from $1.50 at the beginning of this year, having peaked at $56. Currently, SOL is ranked 12th in market capitalization, and SOL's annual return of 2,357% is significantly ahead of other tokens.
SOL's token mechanism is set so that SOL has an initial inflation rate of 15% and then reduces the previous 15% each year, remaining constant after reaching a long-term stabilization rate (1%-2%). This token mechanism allows for rapid growth in SOL supply in the early years and stabilization of SOL supply in the later years.
Solana's Unique Applications:
Solana is so efficient that it can support a whole new category of application types that it couldn't support before. As an example: Solana can verify block headers for the entire history of Bitcoin (from the genesis block to the latest block). This is also true for Bitcoin torrents such as Litecoin and Zcash, and even Ether. Because Solana can locally verify the current state of other chains, Solana does not need to rely on Oracle e (e.g. Cosmos IBC) to understand external states.
This means that Solana can provide support for unmanaged cross-chain DEX; transactions occur on Solana, and settlement takes place on the asset's local chain. And, because the POH acts as an intra-block clock, not just an inter-block clock, Solana provides stronger guarantees regarding intra-block transaction ordering. Combined with Solana's incredible throughput, the network can support an on-chain order book.
Innovation of Solana
Solana was founded to provide a high-performance and low-cost public chain for large-scale applications. The Solana team has developed 8 key innovative technologies to achieve this goal.
The most important guarantee for the realization of Solana's original goal is the PoH (Proof of Work) clock mechanism adopted by Solana's mainnet.
We all know that the timestamps on the blockchain are completely synchronized, and all nodes work together to maintain this public ledger to ensure the trustworthiness of the blockchain, but this can also lead to slower efficiency, for example, Ether to generate a block requires 15 minutes. Solana, on the other hand, allows each node to generate local timestamps, which improves overall efficiency by eliminating the need to wait for the entire blockchain network to synchronize updates to the data and its status. This compresses Solana's average block-out time to 400 milliseconds, with negligible fees for the vast majority of DeFi transactions.
With Proof of History, each node can create a history to prove that an event has occurred at a specific time. PoH is a high-frequency Verifiable Delay Function (VDF) based on SHA256, which SHA256 fast loops in such a way that each of its outputs is the next input, sampling the loop and recording the number of iterations and state.
Thanks to the PoH mechanism, Solana's throughput (TPS), speed, and performance are far beyond that of Ether.
Advantages of Solana public chain
Low Fees
The transaction fee of Ether has affected the normal use of DeFi by users. Assuming an ETH of 2000 USDT and a Gas of 30 Gwei, the cost of a transaction providing liquidity through Uniswap V3 is around $40.
The cost for Solana to complete a transaction is 0.000005 SOL, which is about 0.017 cents. Most DeFi transactions ignore this cost.
2.Scalability
Scalability can be achieved by decreasing transaction fees and increasing the speed of transaction confirmation. For a bottom-layer public chain, it means it can support more applications. For a project to choose a public chain, the most important issues should be development, maintenance cost, and user experience.
Therefore, the 50,000 TPS designed by the Solana public chain provides strong scalability, which is enough to attract new projects to deploy it, plus the wormhole protocol realizes interoperability with Ether, which greatly reduces the risk cost of migrating projects on Ether to Solana.
Ether has long been the leader in smart contract public chains, and we can look at the current headline public chains by total locked-in value (TVL). Ether has a TVL size of $80.15 billion; followed by BSC at $12.17 billion; Polygon at $5.03 billion; Terra at $2.75 billion; and Solana's TVL market capitalization at $960 million.
Solana is one of the largest blockchain ecosystems, boasting thousands of decentralized applications. With a vast sea of web3 projects and apps on Solana waiting to be explored, we should pick the right wallet that suits our needs.
Phantom – The Most Popular Choice
Phantom is the most popular Solana wallet thanks to its versatile design, user-friendly interface, high performance, and low Gas fees.
This unmanaged wallet is popular among SOL pledgers for its simplified pledging process and user-friendly interface. This has made it the preferred choice of over 500,000 monthly users. It is available as a web browser extension for Brave, Firefox, and Chrome, and is also available on mobile devices.
The mobile version is intuitive, allowing users to tab between their funds, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), swap functions, settings, and more. Phantom is a solid choice due to its beginner-friendly and straightforward interface.
That doesnt mean the wallet is simplistic:
Storing: SOL, Solana NFTs, and SLP tokens (which mean Solana Program Library, a token standard for building fungible and on-fungible tokens using Solana smart contracts, similar to Ethereums ERC-20.)
Swapping: Phantom provides instant swaps with 0.85% transaction fees (keep in mind this is a flat fee) thanks to an integration with the Automated Market Maker (AMM) Raydium.
Staking SOL by selecting a validator to stake your tokens with. You can check out StakeView to determine which Solana validators offer the best APY estimates.
Cross-chain swapper: designed to bring liquidity from the Ethereum ecosystem, this feature supports all EVM tokens and bridges them to USDC, USDT, or DAI.
Cold wallet integration with Ledger.
Users have to spend a considerable time studying which validators to stake their tokens with. The most popular ones, while offering the highest APY, are often the most expensive.
Phantom key features summary:
Staking: | yes |
Swap | yes |
Interface | mobile, browser extension |
HD wallet integration | yes — Ledger |
Other chains supported | Ethereum and Polygon |
Solflare – For The Most Experienced Users
Designed by Solana Labs, Solflare was one of the first wallets in the ecosystem alongside Phantom, with identical functionalities, such as token swapping, NFT storage, Ledger integration, and SOL staking. Its accessible on Google Play, the App Store, and as a Chrome extension.
Despite being nearly identical to Phantom both on its web application and mobile version, Solflare presents some unique capabilities:
Direct fund management thanks to an integration with the Solrise platform
MetaMask integration for Solana dApps
A 24-word mnemonic phrase for enhanced security.
Besides supporting staking, swapping, and bridging operations, Solflare is compatible with Solana Pay, a payment network offering low-cost, fast transactions.
Solflare key features summary:
Staking: | yes |
Swap | yes |
Interface | mobile, browser extension |
HD wallet integration | yes — Ledger |
Other chains supported | no, but you can use the Solana Snap feature to connect Solflare to MetaMask and bridge assets from different blockchains |
Atomic Wallet – Higher Yields, Higher Cost
Atomic Wallet stands out due to its high staking yields and a wide range of crypto assets — over 1000 coins available for buying, selling, staking, swapping, and earning rewards.
Staking rewards vary, with top performers like Cosmos, AWC, and Zilliqa throwing the highest yields. However, larger-cap coins like Cardano, Solana, and Ethereum remain the most popular staking options, with lower yields.
All crypto purchases on Atomic are made through its parent Simplex, a centralized on-ramp fiat platform (which also means the user must complete a KYC). That said, heres a breakdown of Atomic Wallet fees:
Buying Cryptocurrencies: flat 5% fee (minimum $10) through Simplex
Crypto transactions: no fees for incoming or outgoing transactions (except the network fee for blockchain transactions, paid to miners as for any other crypto transaction)
Extra fees: none, but it does charge additional fees on swaps —0.5%. However, all swaps are facilitated through ChangeNow, meaning the user must also cover ChangeNows fees.
Moreover, Atomic Wallet allows users to store their NFTs from Ethereum, Solana, BNB Chain, Polygon, Avalanche, and Fantom.
As you may have noticed, Atomics main drawback is the fees — a 2% fee (minimum $10) on top of Simplex's 5% fee. The second drawback is the lack of robust security features. The wallet only relies on a PIN or password for protection and a 12-word passphrase, and there is no support for multi-sig permissions, no integrations with cold wallets, and no Two-Factor Authentication (2FA).
Atomic Wallet key features summary:
Staking: | yes |
Swap | yes |
Interface | mobile, browser extension |
HD wallet integration | no |
Other chains supported | Over 30 blockchains, including popular networks such as Ethereum, Fantom, Arbitrum, Polygon, Binance Smart Chain, Avalanche, Aurora, and more. |
Exodus
Exodus is a non-custodial and multi-functional wallet that works for Solana as well as many other networks.
The Solana Wallet Adapter is integrated with the Exodus Mobile app, allowing users to connect their Solana decentralized applications (dApps) to their wallets or access a vast sea of dApps from several blockchain ecosystems.
It is accessible on desktop, mobile, and browser applications, supporting functionalities like token staking and swapping. Exodus announced its support for Solana in late 2020, and all their desktop, mobile, and hardware crypto wallets inherently support the SOL token.
When utilizing Solana on Exodus, users can expect the following fees:
Staking Fees: No fees for staking Solana, but a 0.00005 SOL fee for unstaking, deducted from the minimum balance.
Solana Pay Fees: Transactions on Solana Pay have a low fee of 0.00005 SOL, equivalent to less than a penny.
Exchange Fees: A small fee applies to cryptocurrency exchanges within the wallet, with the exact percentage unspecified.
Pro tip: unlike the other wallets, Exodus has its staking validator called Everstake. This means staking assets is a more direct process instead of choosing between dozens of validators.
The cons: like other wallets, it uses a 12-word seed phrase and has no 2FA. In other words, more security measures equal more safety in the long run.
Exodus key features summary:
Staking: | yes |
Swap | yes |
Interface | mobile, browser extension |
HD wallet integration | yes —Trezor |
Other chains supported | Bitcoin, Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, Polygon, Solana, and Cardano |
Trust Wallet
Trust Wallet is one of the top-rated wallets in the market.
You wont get bored with Trust Wallet as you can store and stake SOL to earn rewards through the Trust Wallet interface, as well as having full control of your assets.
Heres what you can do with Trust Wallet:
Staking SOL: Similar to other wallets, youll have to choose the amount and the validator you wish to stake your SOL with.
Browse Solana dApps: Trust Wallet also supports several Solana dApps. This ranges from automated market makers, lenders, and yield farming apps such as Solend, Bonfida, Raydium, Jupiter, Marinade Finance, and more.
Buy unique Solana-based NFTs and swap SLP tokens on the Solana network.
All said and done, Trust Wallet is a solid choice if you wish to store and stake your SOL while exploring the Solana ecosystem all in one wallet.
Trust Wallet key features summary:
Staking: | yes |
Swap | yes |
Interface | mobile, desktop, browser extension |
HD wallet integration | yes —Ledger |
Other chains supported | over 70+ blockchains supported, including Ethereum, Solana, Binance Smart Chain, and more. |
Mathwallet
Mathwallet might not be as popular as the other options, but its vast features provide a sharp edge. Its available for several platforms, including desktop, mobile, and browser, and even has a Ledger integration.
This wallet is more of a web3, multi-purpose application supporting over 100 blockchains. It allows users to perform DeFi activities, including navigating dApps on a wide range of networks and staking SOL and other cryptos.
Mathwallet acts as more than just a wallet — its a web3 browser that incorporates developer tools for builders, a dApp store, a “MathVerse” which contains NFT lands and avatars, a MATH token to redeem for MATH products, and a MathStaking, which allows you to choose between several validators to stake your funds.
It also incorporates a gas tracker called MATHGas, which is a handy feature.
The above were all the highlights, but there are also some considerations:
Customer support is somewhat negligent
It can be slow to load certain features
MathVault key features summary:
Staking: | yes |
Swap | yes |
Interface | mobile, browser extension |
HD wallet integration | yes —Ledger |
Other chains supported | supports over 100 blockchains, including popular networks such as Ethereum, Fantom, Arbitrum, Polygon, Binance Smart Chain, Avalanche, Aurora, and more. |
5 Solana-only protocols rank top-10 in defi volume,
As traders and investors seek gains, this years Solana rebirth has buoyed SOL-native exchanges to the forefront of defi activity.
DefiLlama data shows five Solana-only protocols appeared in the top 10 decentralized exchange (DEX) volumes in the past 24 hours.
A DEX is a trading venue built atop a blockchain that allows users to buy, sell, and swap cryptocurrencies. On-chain investors can also provide liquidity through decentralized exchanges, earning yield or passive income to support trading with capital.
Top 5 Solana DEX providers
Uniswap and PancakeSwap lead the DEX space with daily trading volumes of $1.6 billion and $616.3 million, respectively. Solana‘s (SOL) Orca exchange ranked third after amassing $322.4 million in the past day. Arbitrum-based platform DODO was fourth, recording $227.3 million, while SOL’s largest DEX by total value locked, Raydium, came in fifth with $221.9 million.
Where Can I Buy Solana?
To buy the Solana token SOL, you need to open an account with a crypto exchange. Leading exchanges that allow users to buy and sell SOL with U.S. fiat currency (USD) include:
Coinbase Exchange
Kraken
With some cryptocurrency exchanges, you can buy and sell Solana paired with Tether (USDT), a stablecoin. If youre relatively new to the cryptocurrency world, a stablecoin is a comparatively safe cryptocurrency with a more stable valuation.
Exchanges that pair SOL and USDT include:
Binance.US
KuCoin
How to Buy Solana (SOL)
To buy SOL tokens, follow these three steps:
1.Choose a Crypto Exchange
Crypto exchanges are platforms that facilitate trades of cryptocurrency, serving as an intermediary between buyers and sellers. Some exchanges are convenient, but others are more suited for experienced investors.
When comparing your options, look for a crypto exchange with low account minimums and trade fees. To help you get started, we researched available options and selected the top cryptocurrency exchanges.
2.Buy SOL
Once you have an account, you need to fund it. You can fund your account with existing cryptocurrency holdings or you can fund it with your bank account or debit card.
Some cryptocurrency exchanges do allow you to buy cryptocurrencies with a credit card, but you should think twice before using that payment method; the credit card company will likely view the transaction as a cash advance, and youll have to pay cash advance fees and a higher annual percentage rate (APR). Plus, going into debt to invest—particularly in cryptocurrencies, can be volatile.
Once your account is funded, you can place your first order. Just type in Solanas ticker symbol—SOL—and the amount you want to invest, such as $25 or $50. Typically, you can select an order type, such as a market or limit order.
3.Store Your SOL
When you invest in Solana or other cryptocurrencies, you must store your tokens using a crypto wallet.
There are several storage options available; which are best for you based on your risk tolerance level and intended use for your cryptocurrency:
Hardware Wallets. A hardware wallet is a physical device that resembles a flash drive. Unlike other storage options, hardware wallets are not connected to a network or the internet, so theyre considered “cold” storage and are generally more secure.
Paper Wallets. As the name implies, a paper wallet secures your private keys on paper or with a printed QR code. If you decide to use a paper wallet, have a plan in place on where to store it; if you lose that paper, you wont be able to regain access to your cryptocurrency.
Software Wallets. You may prefer a software wallet if you want more convenient ways to access your cryptocurrency and buy and sell your holdings. With this option, you use a software program or downloadable app to store your crypto. The software is connected to the internet, so its less secure than hardware or paper wallets, but you can more easily use your cryptocurrency.
Crypto Exchanges. Some crypto exchanges, such as CoinBase, will store your crypto holdings. However, relying on an exchange to handle storage can be risky, and its usually only a good idea for small amounts and short periods.