Solana is a programmable, decentralized blockchain that offers high-speed transactions. It is a third-generation blockchain project based on open source that seeks to drive the development of advanced, high-concurrency decentralized applications (dApps).
Solana (SOL) offers a highly scalable, secure and highly decentralized blockchain platform.
It is designed to potentially have thousands of nodes without the need for expensive energy-intensive hardware, as it uses a consensus mechanism based on Proof-of-Stake (PoS or Proof-of-Stake).
Each transaction within a blockchain must be verified by the nodes. In the case of Bitcoin, which uses a Proof-of-Work (PoW) mechanism, this work is performed by “miners”, specialized hardware that consumes a great deal of energy and computational resources.
How Solana works
In the case of Solana, a new generation consensus mechanism, called Proof-of-History (PoH or Proof-of-History), is used.
This is an evolution of the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) system used by networks such as Ethereum, but implements a “timestamp” mechanism to determine the veracity of a transaction.
The operation of this system relies on the use of time and a function known as a Verifiable Delay Function (VDF) that orders transactions on the network chronologically and creates a cryptographic system intrinsically tied to the time in which transactions are made, taken, and verified.
For example, imagine you want to buy a computer from your friend Ignacio and you are going to pay in SOL tokens. You make a transaction for a certain amount of money, at a certain time and date, this data is included in the transaction metadata.
Solana then takes the transaction and starts processing it. However, in the network there are thousands of transactions, all with their given time and date. Therefore, the PoH system sorts each of these transactions chronologically and resolves them one after the other.
Smart contracts and decentralized applications.
One of the main features of Solana is the ability to manage smart contracts, which allows the development of all kinds of mass-use decentralized applications (dApps) and new use cases for the SOL token.
Unlike Ethereum, Solana smart contracts are executed in a specific layer (known as Sealevel), which offers the possibility for them to be executed in parallel (instead of sequentially, as in Ethereum).
In this way, Solana smart contracts are faster than those of other blockchains.
What is SOL the Solana token?
Like any other blockchain, Solana has a native cryptocurrency named SOL that functions as a utility token.
The SOL token is required for payment of transaction fees and for deploying and interacting with smart contracts.
SOL tokens are being burned in an integrated deflationary process. In addition, SOL holders can become network validators.
Solana Saga, the Solana smartphone.
Recently, Solana has launched the first smartphone based on blockchain technology, Saga.
This phone has Web3 functionalities, such as a native digital wallet, a Seed Vault (an app where wallet seed phrases can be stored on the smartphone itself), as well as a decentralized app store, based on Solana’s blockchain ecosystem.
Solana’s goal with Saga is to create a gateway to blockchain and Web3 to the general public, by developing a device where the best of Web2 (simple and familiar user experience, functionalities…) and Web3 (native wallet, dApps, privacy) coexist.
To this end, Solana’s blockchain has been integrated as an Android layer, making the handling of the phone familiar to any type of user, even those with no Web3 experience.
Without the Web3 elements, Saga looks like a high-end phone, with a 6.67″ AMOLED display at 1080p and 120Hz, a 4,110 mAh battery, a Snapdragon 8+ Gen1 chip, and 12 GB of RAM.
