Solana (SOL): The Ethereum Killer Partnered with FTX and Serum

Introduction

Solana (SOL) positions itself as a formidable competitor to the Ethereum blockchain, aiming to establish an internet-scale decentralized network for building fast, secure, and scalable applications. With a staggering 65,000 transactions per second (TPS) and lightning-fast 400-millisecond block finality, Solana demonstrates how blockchain throughput can scale proportionally with network bandwidth. Its architecture supports up to 710,000 TPS on Gigabit networks and 28.4 million TPS on 40-Gigabit networks.

Founding Background

Founded in 2017 by Anatoly Yakovenko—a former engineer at Dropbox and Qualcomm—Solana emerged to address scalability limitations in Bitcoin and Ethereum. Collaborating with Eric Williams and Greg Fitzgerald, Yakovenko developed innovative protocols to create a trustless, distributed system with elastic resource allocation. The team comprises veterans from Apple, Google, Intel, and other tech giants, backed by investors like Multicoin Capital and Foundation Capital.

👉 Discover how Solana’s architecture outperforms traditional blockchains

Proof-of-History (PoH) Consensus

Solana’s breakthrough Proof-of-History (PoH) mechanism acts as a decentralized clock, using Verifiable Delay Functions (VDFs) to timestamp transactions without inter-node communication. This allows the 200-node GPU-powered network to achieve 50,000+ TPS while maintaining security and decentralization.

Key Innovations:

Tower BFT: A PoH-optimized version of PBFT consensus.
Turbine: Splits data into smaller packets for efficient transmission.
Gulf Stream: Pushes transactions to the edge, eliminating mempool delays.
Sealevel: Parallel execution engine for smart contracts.
Pipeline: Modular transaction processing for rapid validation.
Cloudbreak: Horizontally scalable account database.
Archivers: Lightweight nodes for distributed ledger storage.

SOL Tokenomics

Native Token: SOL (4.89 billion max supply; 26 million circulating).
Use Cases: Staking, payments, and governance.
Staking Process:
1. Transfer SOL to a supported wallet.
2. Create a staking account.
3. Delegate to a validator.

Ecosystem and Partnerships

Solana collaborates with industry leaders like:

Serum: A Solana-based DEX with 1,500% SRM token growth.
FTX: Leverages Solana for low-latency trading.
Chainlink, Terra, Akash: Expand DeFi and oracle capabilities.

👉 Explore Solana’s staking rewards and ecosystem projects

FAQs

What makes Solana faster than Ethereum?

Solana’s PoH and parallel processing enable 65,000 TPS vs. Ethereum’s ~30 TPS (pre-2.0).

How does staking SOL work?

Users delegate SOL to validators, earning rewards for securing the network.

Is Solana decentralized?

Yes, with 200+ global nodes and resistance to centralization risks.

What’s Serum’s role in Solana’s ecosystem?

Serum’s 400ms-updated order book showcases Solana’s low-fee, high-speed advantages.

Conclusion

Solana redefines blockchain scalability with its 8 core innovations, making it a top contender against Ethereum. Its partnerships with Serum and FTX highlight real-world adoption, while SOL staking offers passive income opportunities. As the network grows, Solana’s 28 million TPS potential could reshape decentralized applications.