2 weeks ago
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Leo Sun, The Motley Fool
Mon, April 20, 2026 astatine 12:12 PM CDT 3 min read
Solana (CRYPTO: SOL), the autochthonal cryptocurrency of the Solana blockchain, deed a grounds precocious of astir $295 past January. But arsenic of this writing, it trades astatine astir $85. Like galore different cryptocurrencies, Solana mislaid its luster arsenic elevated involvement rates, geopolitical conflicts, and different macro headwinds drove investors distant from speculative investments.
Yet dissimilar immoderate different altcoins that deficiency wide catalysts, Solana inactive has plentifulness of irons successful the fire. Let's spot wherefore it mightiness make much millionaire-making gains for diligent investors.
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Unlike Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC), which uses the proof-of-work (PoW) mechanics for mining, Solana is simply a proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain similar Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH). PoS tokens can't beryllium mined, but their blockchains enactment astute contracts for processing decentralized apps and tokens. They tin besides beryllium staked (locked up) to gain interest-like rewards.
While Bitcoin is valued by its scarcity, Solana and Ethereum are valued by the maturation of their developer ecosystems. However, Solana integrated its ain proof-of-history (PoH) validation mechanics (which timestamps transactions earlier they're validated) into its Layer 1 (L1) PoS blockchain to process transactions astatine overmuch higher speeds than Ethereum's L1 blockchain.
According to Chainspect, Solana's L1 blockchain tin presently process astir 1,200 transactions per 2nd (TPS), compared to Ethereum's real-time L1 velocity of 24 TPS. Solana's theoretical max velocity of 65,000 TPS besides crushes Ethereum's max velocity of 238 TPS.
Solana's velocity has drawn successful developers astatine a overmuch faster complaint than Ethereum. Solana's blockchain had 17,708 progressive developers successful precocious 2025, placing it successful 2nd spot down Ethereum's 31,869 developers. Ethereum is trying to support gait with Solana with Layer 2 (L2) "Rollups" that bundle unneurotic L1 transactions and process them off-chain astatine higher speeds, but that fragmented attack could beryllium little appealing than Solana's unified one.
Solana has adjacent secured partnerships with Visa, which uses it to settee stablecoin payments, and Shopify, which uses Solana Pay (its integrated outgo platform) to process cryptocurrency payments for its e-commerce customers. That rising illustration could marque Solana much appealing than smaller altcoins with little disposable catalysts.
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