$SOL

Solana is a Layer 1 blockchain that offers users fast speeds and affordable costs. It supports smart contracts and facilitates the creation of decentralized applications (dApps). Projects built on Solana include a variety of DeFi platforms as well as NFT marketplaces, where users can buy Solana-based NFT projects. Its high performance means Solana doesn’t require a traditional scaling Layer 2 solution; instead, Layer 2s on Solana focus on interoperability and connecting Solana to other chains.

Solana combines the Proof-of-History (PoH) consensus mechanism alongside the more common Proof-of-Stake. This ensures Solana achieves consensus more quickly while reducing the workload and solving the blockchain trilemma, where developers have to balance decentralization, security, and scalability.

What is Proof of History?

Proof-of-History is a time-based consensus mechanism that develops a historical record of an activity based on its position in the blockchain, which is represented by a hash tree. This lets any node quickly verify the order of all transactions by checking the hashes on the hash tree, allowing for fast and efficient validation without requiring the nodes to store the full history of every transaction.