What is Solana
Solana (SOL) is an established crypto startup that builds and develops crypto apps for decentralised apps and marketplaces. Solana is a highly functional open source project that banks on blockchain technology’s permissionless nature to provide decentralised finance (DeFi) solutions.
Solana is a public blockchain network built for speed, security, and efficiency. It combines the proof of stake consensus algorithm (PoS) with a novel proof of history (PoH) system. Designed as a decentralised protocol, Solana incorporates an innovative proof of history mechanism that is implemented prior to, and facilitates its proof of stake protocol.
Solana aims to improve blockchain scalability, by using this combination of proof of stake and so-called proof of history. As a result, they can support 50,000 tps (transactions per second) without sacrificing decentralisation. Producing new blocks every 400 milliseconds with the help of 200 validating nodes, all while maintaining close to zero network fees. You can see on their website the amount, and speed of transactions, and they even have a stress test you can perform to see if what they claim is true.
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Solana wants to build a scalable network, which is much faster than any existing blockchain. They already have a bunch of big name DeFi, Web 3, crypto exchanges and online gaming enterprises running on their blockchain. They successfully raised 315 million dollars to develop a faster blockchain.
Wormhole, a cross-chain messaging protocol is being tested by Solana. It is an interoperability protocol seeking to link Solana with other leading DeFi networks, and currently supports Ethereum, Terra Money and the Binance Smart Chain ecosystems.
Blockchains cannot normally talk to each other, so the protocol will permit blockchain networks that have no existing links to interact with each other, to communicate. In general, Wormhole aims to enable existing projects, platforms, and communities to move non fungible tokens (NFTs) and tokenised assets seamlessly and trustlessly across blockchains. Notably, data can cross this Wormhole trustless bridge in both directions.
This ability enables different types of information flows within the blockchain, including governance mechanisms like voting. Furthermore, Wormhole comes with 19 validators where projects can monitor if an asset is locked up in one chain and is copied before freely moving to the next chain. The protocol is also built to be synchronous, allowing for low latency consensus. This capability ensures information is utilised freely, in both directions and without delays.
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The launch of Wormhole Crypto is a strong signal for the future in cross-chain technology. It’s a new kind of message protocol that can connect any blockchain through a verifiable, trustless network. Wormhole is completely generic, with its cross-chain messages containing arbitrary data enabling developers to freely build applications using the protocol.
Some of the applications are in asset transfers, oracle data, governance decisions, and NFTs. Additionally, interoperability protocol unlocks network effects and allows efficient use of resources. Solana looks like it has a strong future seemingly heading in the right directions.