What is the hype of Solana, one of Ethereum’s major rivals, all about?

No wonder the cryptocurrency market has managed to seek attention from every corner of the world. Not just Bitcoin and Ethereum, but a list of cryptocurrencies have grabbed eyeballs from everywhere around. Among those making the headlines, one cryptocurrency that cannot go out of mention is Solana.

Despite the bearish trend in the cryptocurrency market, one cryptocurrency that stood apart from the rest is Solana. The fact that Solana reached a new all-time high above $200 during the time other major cryptocurrencies were suffering massive losses is definitely worth a mention. Such a spike in its price has not only made traders, investors and market participants curious about the same but also those outside the cryptocurrency space.

Before delving deep into what made the price of this cryptocurrency soar higher and higher, let's start from the very basics. First things first, Solana is a blockchain platform that is specifically designed to host decentralized applications. This blockchain was built by developers at San Francisco-based Solana Labs. It is very much similar to other leading dApp blockchains like Ethereum and Cardano. Yet another point that is worth making a note of is the fact that Solana is an open-source project currently run by the Geneva-based Solana Foundation.

Solana is a PoS (proof of stake) blockchain. This is exactly what sets Solana apart from Ethereum blockchain. This blockchain is the reason why Solana is more environment-friendly than Bitcoin and Ethereum. Also, Solana's ability to deliver faster with low transaction fees is why a lot of investors are inclined towards it.

An advantage of the proof of stake protocol is that it doesn't make use of massive energy to run a blockchain, as against Ethereum and Bitcoin. The proof of stake protocol makes the validator nodes on the network to stake something. Yes, the validators also consume power to operate. However, their power consumption is far lower than that of the PoW miners.

Putting it straight, Solana is considered to be one of the best programmable blockchain – a blockchain that is currently one of the fastest programmable blockchains in the cryptocurrency space. It is a major competitor to other programmable blockchains such as Ethereum and Cardano.

The massive functions and immense potential of the Solana blockchain is something that cannot go unnoticed. This programmable blockchain has the ability to store tiny pieces of code known as smart contracts and they can be programmed to execute certain actions when the conditions of the contract are met. Also, with certain shortcomings that Ethereum network has including scalability and high fees, Solana has emerged out to be one of the best cryptocurrencies to rely on.

With Solana being at the beginning of its growth cycle and holding the potential to match Ethereum in terms of price and market value over the next few years, it does make sense to watch out how the cryptocurrency market would turn out to be.