Solana (SOL) Coin Popular Science Introduction Solana is a high-performance public chain (Layer-1 blockchain) known for its extremely high speed, very low transaction fees, and massive scalability, often referred to as the 'Ethereum killer'. 1. Basic Information
Native Token: SOL
Launch Date: March 2020 Mainnet Launch (Project began development in 2017)
Founder: Anatoly Yakovenko (former Qualcomm engineer), team mostly comes from tech companies like Qualcomm
Current Ranking (December 2025): Usually ranks in the top 10 by cryptocurrency market cap (currently around 7th place)
Market Cap: Approximately $71 billion
Current price: approximately $125-127 (high volatility, recently oscillating in the $120-130 range)
Historical highest price: approximately $293-295 (early 2025)
2. Core technological features The biggest selling point of Solana is performance; it tries to solve the "trilemma" of traditional public chains (like Bitcoin and early Ethereum): decentralization, security, and scalability.
Project
Solana
Ethereum (Layer 1)
Consensus mechanism
Proof of History (PoH) + Proof of Stake (PoS)
Proof of Stake (since 2022)
TPS (theoretical)
65,000+ (actual range from several thousand to tens of thousands)
15-30 (L2 can be higher)
Transaction confirmation time
400ms-1 second
12-15 seconds
Average transaction fee
<$0.01 (usually a few cents)
A few dollars to several dozen dollars (depending on congestion)
Number of nodes
Approximately 1500-2000
50,000+
Degree of decentralization
Moderate (high hardware requirements)
Higher
Proof of History (PoH) is Solana's killer innovation: it acts like a built-in "clock", timestamping each transaction with a verifiable timestamp, greatly reducing communication and consensus time between nodes, thus achieving ultra-high throughput. 3. The use of SOL tokens SOL is the core fuel of the Solana ecosystem:
Transaction fee (Gas Fee): very cheap
Staking: participate in network validation, earn an annual return of about 5-8%
Governance: may participate in network upgrade voting in the future
Payments within the ecosystem: DeFi, NFT, games, etc.
Inflation model: there is inflation (currently about 4-5%), but some fees will be burned (deflationary mechanism)
4. Ecosystem highlights (status in 2025)
DeFi: TVL (Total Value Locked) consistently ranks in the top three, DEX trading volume sometimes exceeds Ethereum
NFT: Platforms like Magic Eden, Tensor are very active
Meme coins: Platforms like Pump.fun have made Solana a popular hub for meme coins (contributing a large trading volume in 2024-2025)
Games/GameFi: Projects like Star Atlas
Payments/real-world applications: Traditional institutions like Visa and PayPal have tested Solana for settlement
Developers: The number of active developers continues to grow, Rust + Anchor development framework is friendly
5. Summary of advantages and disadvantages Advantages:
Fast speed, extremely low transaction fees → good user experience
Suitable for high-frequency applications (games, social, payments, memes)
Strong explosive power in the ecosystem (especially for memes and retail users)
Disadvantages:
Network stability: has experienced multiple outages in the past (most severe from 2021-2023), significantly improved after 2024, but still not as stable as Ethereum
Degree of decentralization: high hardware requirements for nodes, validators relatively concentrated
Inflation: no hard cap on supply, long-term may dilute value (but there is a burning mechanism to balance)
6. Solana vs Ethereum (perspective from 2025)
Ethereum is more mature, secure, and decentralized, making it the first choice for institutions and blue-chip DeFi
Solana is faster, cheaper, and more suitable for retail users, leading in meme, gaming, and social areas
Current ecosystem: Ethereum's TVL and number of developers still lead, but Solana often surpasses in trading volume and user activity
Summary in one sentence:
Solana is like the "highway" of the crypto world—fast, cheap, bustling, but occasionally congested or under repair; Ethereum is like "high-speed rail + subway"—stable, reliable, but ticket prices are higher, and speed is not as fast as Solana. If you are interested in Solana, it is recommended to start with wallets like Phantom or Backpack to experience its speed and ecosystem. The crypto market is highly volatile, and investments should be made cautiously.
