Is Solana the Best Altcoin to Invest In?

Solana coin is an innovative blockchain built to use dApps (decentralized applications), smart contracts and blockchain networks. Interestingly, Solana also works as NFTs and is used in music streaming as well. Unlike other coins, it comes with a combination of micropayments, proof-of-history (PoH) and proof-of-stake (PoS) in verifications of payments or transactions.

Experts consider Solana as being a smart innovation that covers the lapses associated with the use of Ethereum. Solana’s team have since set out on a very ambitious goal of bringing a game that addresses the trio of time limitation, security, and scalability.

Currently, there are about 300 million tokens in circulation, with more to be unveiled. The Solana (SOL) platform, founded in 2017 by Anatoly Yakovenko, Solana coinmarketcap already leads as the 6th most popular cryptocurrency judging by market capitalization, with a capitalization of about 65 billion dollars at a $200 per token rate.  In this article, we will address your concerns and uncertainties surrounding Solana’s profitability. You will learn all you need to know about Solana, including Solana price prediction, the pros and cons of investing in Solana.

According to the founder, there are eight striking unique technological innovations that Solana brings to the game.

1. Proof of History (PoH) → a clock before consensus
2. Tower BFT → PoH-optimized version of PBFT (Practical Byzantine Fault Toleration)
3. Turbine → a block propagation protocol
4. Gulf Stream → Mempool-less transaction forwarding protocol
5. Sealevel → Parallel smart contracts run-time
6. Pipeline → a Transaction Processing Unit for validation optimization
7. Cloudbreak → Horizontally-Scaled Accounts Database
8. Archivers → Distributed ledger storage

Source: Twitter

Pros of investing in Solana

• Lower transaction charges: Solana is rated top for making micropayments because it offers very lower transaction fees. Lower transaction fees save investors huge sums of money. Solana also makes for exchange and learning. Exchange processes millions of transactions daily.
• Safer and faster system of verification of payments: Solana as a web-scale blockchain provides fast, secure, scalable, decentralized apps and marketplaces. Its system currently supports 50,000 TPS (Transactions per second) and 400ms Block Times. It further supports an upper bound of 710,000 TPS on a standard gigabit network and 28.4 million tps on a 40-gigabit network.
• Solana operates a scalable network better than any existing blockchain and even VISA: Still connected to its lower transaction fees, Solana is more scalable compared to ethereum. Whereas ethereum transaction fees may surpass $30 per transaction, Solana transaction fees linger around an average of $0.00025. By implication, many users, especially those with smaller amounts of capital, will like to execute trades on the Solana network.
• New technological approach: (PoH and PoS and time-saving): Proof of History is a mechanism that helps to order events on the blockchain. Instead of creating a uniform time for all participants, it allows each node to independently verify the order’s validity. Josh Goodbody, the C.O.O of Qredo and former Europe, Middle East and Africa Director at Binance, observed how strong a competitor to Ethereum Solana is, said, “Solana’s hallmarks are speed of transactions and low gas fees, due to an innovative proof-of-history protocol. Thanks to this powerful infrastructure, they have raised over $300 million this year from the likes of a16z and Polychain,”
• Good leadership and technology attract big and reputable investors: Solana has attracted some big reputable investors like Passport Capital, Kevin Rose, Rockway Capital, Block Tower Capital, Multicoin Capital etc. This is a pull factor for users.
• Solana has got some of the best and biggest partners in the crypto game: Over 400 partners on the Solana network, such as Serum, Chainlink, USDC (the Circle stablecoin), and Audius, which are well known in the crypto world.
• Relatively great stability: Changes that either swipe upwards or downwards is constant characteristics of all cryptocurrencies. The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic and recent comments by Elon Musk, and series of political developments in many countries led to increased market volatility, in the process of which many cryptocurrencies depreciated in value. For many crypto traders and analysts, this was a very good test of investment worthiness. However, Solana continued to pose fairly steady growth while the larger market in the crypto world had been losing some value.
• Delegated Staking: Solana, functioning as a delegated staking blockchain, allows its users to gain major competitive edges. Firstly, it is possible for users to secure a passive income by staking their SOL on the network. Conventionally, staking protocols continue to enjoy more popularity in the market as they are easier for new users to learn, offering constant rewards compared to trading. Ben Weiss, CEO and co-founder of Bitcoin ATM operator CoinFlip, noted that “As blockchains currently stand, Solana is the most efficient by the majority of metrics,”

Cons of investing in Solana

As promising as Solana is with very interesting technological innovations, there are some downsides to call your attention to as you decide to rate the Solana platform as a good platform to invest in or not. 

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• Higher cost of setting up: Even though Solan’s transaction fees are relatively lower compared to other cryptocurrencies, the cost of setting up Solana’s hardware is higher than other cryptocurrencies. Investors may consider this difference seriously and could influence their final decision to invest in another cryptocurrency with a lower setup cost.
• Decentralization: Solana’s method of transactions makes them faster to process and minimizes the chances of decentralization. This is a potential turn off for investors seeking a much-decentralized trading platform. In this light, Goodbody also warns that Solana would need to decentralize further and obtain more network validators. Currently, there are less than 200 validators.
• Best for longer-term investment: Crypto analysts believe that Solana’s strength is for investors targeting longer-term investments, as against those looking for short term investment or quick big cashouts. This might be a turn off for some investors.
• Scare of not being able to handle future massive surges in its network or users: Solana recently went through an embarrassing experience that came from massive pressure on its network with a surge in users. IT engineers and back-end experts need to prove that they would be able to handle things properly in future rises.
• Distribution and emissions schedule makes it unattractive
• Distribution results in dilution of circulating supply

Source: Twitter

Conclusion

Generally, cryptocurrency investments are risky and volatile and require a lot of research and understanding to play as safe as possible. The prices could surge or fall at any time. Solana has seen some very interesting price rises in 2021. In fact, for crypto traders, July was dubbed “Solana summer” following its impressive price rise. Solana is surely an investment you want to keep your eyes on as it continues to grow because one thing is for sure, if Solana keeps developing as it is doing, there is every chance of growing in value and popularity.

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