$SOL is the native cryptocurrency of the Solana blockchain, known for its high-speed and low-cost transactions. Solana uses a unique consensus mechanism called Proof of History (PoH) combined with Proof of Stake (PoS), allowing it to process thousands of transactions per second. It supports decentralized applications (dApps), NFTs, and DeFi platforms, making it a strong competitor to Ethereum. $SOL is used to pay transaction fees and for staking to secure the network. Despite facing outages and scalability criticisms in the past, Solana has continued to grow its ecosystem and developer base. With major projects and institutional interest backing it, SOL remains a top altcoin in terms of market cap and utility within the crypto industry.