Solana

Solana is an open source project implementing a new, high-performance, permissionless blockchain. Solana is a general purpose blockchain similar to Ethereum. End user applications as of now include decentralized finance (DeFi), non-fungible tokens (NFT), marketplaces, games, and more. It aims to improve scalability by introducing a proof-of-history (PoH) consensus combined with the underlying proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus of the blockchain.

Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko published a whitepaper describing Proof of History, a technique that would become critical to Solana's blockchain infrastructure, in Nov. 2017. 

Co-founder Greg Fitzgerald, who had worked with Yakovenko at Qualcomm, began prototyping the open source implementation of the whitepaper. It was published under the name Silk in 2018. 

After starting the company under the name Loom, Yakovenko, Fitzgerald, and other co-founders rebranded to Solana. Solana launched on Mainnet Beta in March 2020.

Solana was built to facilitate the development of scalable, user-friendly decentralized apps with low costs and high speeds for transactions.

Solana believes its unique blockchain architecture that combines the proof-of-stake consensus mechanism and its own proof of history mechanism is the key to achieving these goals.

Proof of history works almost like a cryptographic timestamp that proves that an event has occurred at a specific time. It enables the blockchain to work fast while maintaining security and decentralization.

There are about 304 million SOL in circulation as of November 2021. Solana has an initial inflation rate of 8%, which will decrease by 15% a year until it reaches a long-term inflation rate of 1.5%. SOL is Solana’s native token.

Solana competes with other blockchain platforms such as Ethereum and Avalanche to host crypto projects such as NFTs, decentralized exchanges, and gaming. 

Developers and users flocked from Ethereum to Solana due to high transaction costs, but many could gravitate back towards Ethereum if it manages to lower costs, which could happen as a result of the Ethereum 2.0 upgrade and layer 2 rollups. 

Solana.com
Docs.solana.com/history
Forums.solana.com

Squads, known for its Solana-based multisig protocol, has raised $18 million in new funding to scale its stablecoin platform Altitude.

Solana Ventures leads $18 million round in Squads to scale its stablecoin platform Altitude

USDC

Circle minted $500 million in USDC on the Solana network on April 29, with the issuance being part of a week that saw Solana process $3.25 billion in fresh USDC supply. Key Takeaways: Circle minted $500 million in USDC on Solana, as flagged by onchain intelligence firm Arkham. Solana's weekly USDC issuance hit $3.

Circle Mints $500 Million in USDC on Solana as Weekly Issuance Tops $3.25 Billion

Chiliz rolled out its own layer-1 network in 2023 to host the trading of its tokens, but is transitioning to what it calls "omnichain distribution."

World Cup fever: Chiliz expands to Solana and Base to supercharge fan token trading

Solana ended the week lower as traders turned more cautious, with macro jitters weighing on risk appetite.

Solana News: SOL Ends Lower as Traders Turn Bearish, Foundation Prepares for Quantum Risk

Bitcoin

Ethereum

Bitcoin traded at $76,923 on Tuesday morning, down 2.4% over 24 hours after rejecting $79,400 the previous day, with the entire top 10 closing red as Brent crude extended its rally to a seventh straight day.

Bitcoin loses $77,000, ether, solana slide as Hormuz standoff lifts oil to 3-week high

Solana's two primary validator client developers have independently identified the same post-quantum cryptographic solution for the network, publishing working code on Github as blockchain researchers across the industry step up preparations for a future threat that remains years away.

Solana Readies Quantum Defense With 3-Step Roadmap and Falcon Implementation

Onchain traders on Jupiter, Solana's leading decentralized exchange ( DEX) aggregator, are pricing Anthropic at a $1 trillion implied valuation through synthetic Prestocks tokens, making the artificial intelligence (AI) company the third private firm to cross that threshold alongside OpenAI and SpaceX.

Anthropic Pre-IPO Traders Push Onchain Implied Cap to $1 Trillion

Solana (SOL) prices are holding above the moving average lines after being rejected at the $90 level.

Solana Moves Sideways Above $85

Two of the network's core developer teams, Anza and Jump Crypto's Firedancer, have landed on the same solution: a new type of digital signature called Falcon.

Solana developers outline plan to protect network from quantum threats

Benjamin Pasternak faces criminal charges following an investor class action lawsuit and accusations of breaching an OTC token deal.

Founder of Solana Token Launchpad Believe Arrested on Assault, Strangulation Charges

Dogecoin

Bitcoin traded at $77,794 on Thursday morning, up 0.4% over 24 hours but well off the $79,388 high hit Wednesday evening, with ether, XRP and Solana all closing red.

Bitcoin loses grip near $80,000 as ETH, SOL, DOGE fade on profit-taking

Crypto market maker GSR has launched an actively managed ETF on the Nasdaq that includes Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana.

GSR Launches Actively Managed Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana Basket ETF on Nasdaq

Core3 marks GSR's first crypto ETF offering amid a period of expansion for the major market maker and the wider crypto fund sector.

GSR enters crypto ETF field with actively managed multi-asset fund tracking Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana

Advisory council says validator signatures and wallet cryptography could be vulnerable if future quantum computers break current encryption.

Coinbase Flags Proof-of-Stake Chains Like Ethereum, Solana as Potential Quantum Risks

Solana's SOL token ended the week down 0.75%, leaving its market capitalization just below $50 billion, as renewed macro jitters tied to the conflict in the Middle East weighed on markets.

Solana News: XRP Debuts, Drift Recovers as Solana Gains Speed

The crypto exchange opens IPO Prime access with Republic to offer Solana-based tokens tied to private firms ahead of public listings.

Bitget exchange brings pre-IPO tokens to masses starting with SpaceX on Solana

Bitcoin traded at $74,335 after Iran reimposed controls on the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend, with the modest 1.6% pullback standing out against a 5.7% jump in Brent and a 1.2% drop in European equity futures.

Bitcoin, ether, solana slide, oil jumps on renewed U.S.-Iran war risks

Solana (SOL) prices have risen above the moving average lines, reaching $90 on April 16.

Coinidol.com: Solana Slumps Again Above $80

Wrapped XRP officially launched on Solana this week, letting XRP holders move into one of crypto's most active decentralized finance networks without selling their native token position. Key Takeaways: Wrapped XRP launched on Solana this week, backed 1:1 by Hex Trust with roughly 834,498 wXRP in circulation.

Hex Trust Brings 1:1 Backed Wrapped XRP to Solana's Ecosystem

Wrapped XRP on Solana lets XRP holders access Jupiter, Phantom, and Meteora without selling the asset, the latest step in Hex Trust's multi-chain wXRP rollout first announced in December.

Wrapped XRP goes live on Solana, broadening DeFi access for Ripple-linked token

The move follows Hex Trust saying in December wXRP would become available on Solana, Optimism, Ethereum, and HyperEVM.

Wrapped XRP launches on Solana, enabling broader DeFi access for token holders

The project, called DoubleZero Edge, offers a real-time feed of raw data from the Solana blockchain, giving traders faster access to information that can influence prices.

Wall Street trading-tech is coming to crypto as DoubleZero rolls out high-speed data for Solana

Sentinel Action Fund has received backing from the Solana Institute and Multicoin Capital, a crypto-focused venture capital firm.

Solana Institute-backed super PAC pours $8 million against Sherrod Brown in Ohio race

The Sentinel Action Fund is supporting Republican John Husted in that race, with funding from the Solana network's advocacy group and Multicoin Capital.

Solana Policy Institute-backed PAC spends millions to jam Sherrod Brown's Senate run

Cardano

China's CSI 300 joins Taiwan and Singapore in erasing war-related declines as US-Iran talk optimism keeps oil below $100; spot ETFs posted $471 million in single-day inflows last week.

News for Solana Crypto (SOL)