Solana is a web-scale blockchain platform created in 2017. It was founded by Anatoly Yakovenko, Eric Williams, and Greg Fitzgerald as a chain that will overcome throughput and scalability issues of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and similar projects.
The difference between Solana and other blockchains starts from the consensus method – when most chains use Proof of Work or Proof of Stake, Solana is built on Proof of History. Coupled with several innovations and improvements of Solana, like Gulf Stream forwarding protocol, Pipeline transaction processing unit, and Sealevel parallelizing engine, this consensus method allows Solana to provide enormous throughput of 50,000 transactions per second. SOL is a native currency of the Solana blockchain. Its primary purpose is to be a fuel for on-chain programs and validation of their outputs. However, it can also be used as a value transfer unit or for staking to profit from hodling.
In February 2022, the Solana network introduced a new product, Solana Pay. Solana Pay is an open peer-to-peer payment solution. The solution allows users to send digital currencies to merchants in exchange for goods, just like any other purchase.
