The context of formation and the first push
In March 2020, as the world was struggling with the COVID-19 pandemic, a new name emerged in the blockchain market: Solana. Developed by Solana Labs, this project did not come to market randomly – it has backing from heavyweights like a16z, Jump Trading, Multicoin Capital, Polychain, and especially Sam Bankman-Fried's Alameda Research (SBF).
Solana positions itself as a 'new generation' Layer 1, faster than Ethereum, cheaper than Binance Smart Chain, and more convenient than Tron. It emerged with the promise that it could handle up to 65,000 transactions per second – something no blockchain dared to commit to at that time.
The difference lies in speed and cost
Solana uses a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism combined with a secondary consensus called Proof-of-History – allowing for quick transaction time ordering and processing with extremely low latency. This keeps transaction fees super cheap (under $0.01), opening up opportunities for applications that need real-time speed such as gaming, decentralized finance (DeFi), or payment applications.
The backing from FTX and the first light
FTX and Alameda played an extremely important role in the early development of Solana. It was SBF who continuously promoted Solana as 'the Ethereum alternative', investing in infrastructure, wallets, exchanges, and DeFi built on Solana. This created exponential growth for the SOL token, propelling it to the top of the crypto market in just one year.
But the story has just begun...