• Substack

How to buy a SOL domain for $SOL Wallet + Staking

When Bitcoin was created more than a decade ago, it addressed a difficult problem: how to allow strangers from all over the world to conduct financial transactions over the internet without the involvement of a payment processor like Visa or PayPal.

It was a blockchain technology that allowed for decentralized transactions and gave birth to the entire world of cryptocurrencies we know today. However, when contrasted to centralized networks like those used by credit card firms, blockchains have one fundamental disadvantage: they are sluggish. Ethereum currently handles fewer than 15 transactions per second, compared to tens of thousands for Visa’s network as of August 2021.

Solana is one of a batch of new crypto solutions aimed at making crypto networks more scalable and speedier. It employs a number of ingenious technologies, including a revolutionary “proof of history” method.

Solana is a high-performance smart contract blockchain that uses both proof-of-stake and proof-of-history techniques. Proof-of-history allows network computers to arrange transactions without having to wait for the latest block of transactions to be announced. A new block of transactions may be produced every 0.4 seconds if this bottleneck is removed. Anatoly Yakovenko, a former Qualcomm senior engineer and engineer manager, came up with the idea for Solana in 2017.

The Solana network staged an initial seed sale in 2018 and was finally deployed in 2020 after partnering with others, including numerous other former Qualcomm workers. The platform is funded by FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange, and Alameda Research, two companies linked to FTX founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried.

Each of the firms has made significant contributions to the Solana network and its applications, such as Serum, a decentralized exchange. The native cryptocurrency of Solana is SOL, which is similar to Ethereum’s ETH. It may be used to run decentralized programs, stake coins, and perform a variety of other tasks.

Solana is a cryptocurrency as well as a versatile platform for crypto app development. Its main novelty is speed, which is achieved through a combination of new technology and a consensus method. Solana can execute about 50,000 transactions per second, whilst Ethereum can only handle 15 or fewer.

Because Solana is so quick, delays and costs are kept to a minimum. High speeds and cheap prices, according to the developers, would eventually allow Solana to expand to compete with centralized payment processors like Visa.

SOL is Solana’s native cryptocurrency. It’s utilized for staking and paying transaction fees. SOL may be purchased and sold on exchanges like Coinbase.

Validators are the machines that keep the network safe. Participants put their own SOL on the line to become validators in return for the opportunity to earn fresh SOL and a portion of the costs.

SOL also functions as a “governance token,” allowing holders to vote on future upgrades and governance initiatives proposed by the Solana community.

Solana is a computing platform that allows smart contracts to interface with it. From NFT markets and DeFi to games and decentralized lotteries, smart contracts support a wide range of applications.

DEXs and loan apps are among the most popular Solana apps as of August 2021. On Solana, the crypto app ecosystem supports billions of dollars in assets. One reason a user could choose a Solana-based service over, for example, Ethereum is that speeds are fast and congestion is low, leading to extremely low costs.

Stablecoins and wrapped assets can be supported on the Solana blockchain. Over $700 million of USD Coin has been released on Solana as of August 2021.

Of course, there are hazards connected with new crypto applications and technology, ranging from severe volatility to the possibility of exploiting unforeseen smart-contract vulnerabilities.

What is a layer 1 crypto network?

Bitcoin is the first cryptocurrency, and it was also the first time blockchain technology was used in a practical way. While it was intended to be a peer-to-peer digital payment network, its slowness has converted it into a store of value asset instead. Layer 1 is the foundation layer, or basic network, on which a cryptocurrency like bitcoin operates.

It’s a collection of solutions that improve the fundamental protocol in order to make the entire system more scalable. The consensus protocol modifications, as well as sharding, are the two most prevalent layer-1 options.

When it comes to consensus procedures, projects like Ethereum are shifting away from older, inefficient protocols like proof-of-work (PoW) in favor of significantly speedier and less energy-intensive protocols like proof-of-stake (PoS).

Sharding is also one of the most often used layer-1 scalability techniques. Instead of forcing a network to work on each transaction in order, sharding divides transaction sets into little data sets known as “shards,” which may then be handled in parallel by the network.

The phrase “scaling” in blockchain technology refers to an increase in the system throughput rate, which is measured in transactions per second. With the widespread adoption of cryptocurrencies in everyday life, blockchain layers are now required for improved network security, recordkeeping, and other functions.

The blockchain is the first layer of a decentralized ecosystem. The underlying blockchain technology is updated to allow for scalability in Layer 1 scaling. These techniques alter the protocol’s rules to boost capacity and transaction speed, allowing more data and users to be accommodated.

Layer 1 scaling could include:

Increasing the speed with which blocks are confirmed

Increasing a block’s data-carrying capacity

These scaling methods boost the network’s throughput when used together.

When it comes to layer-1 solutions, one of the benefits is that nothing needs to be added to the existing infrastructure.

What are the top layer 1 networks?

In a decentralized system, a Layer 1 network is a blockchain. Top Layer-1 networks include Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Ethereum, for example.

Solana is an emerging cryptocurrency star and one of the quickest Layer 1 blockchains on the market right now. It supports smart contracts and may be utilized in deFi and the construction of NFTs with low-cost, lightning-fast transactions.

 What is Solana $SOL?

SOL, a cryptocurrency based on the Solana blockchain, is being discussed as a possible long-term Ethereum competitor. That’s because it’s more than simply a coin: Solana and Ethereum have both gained traction among hacker communities, with smart contracts and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) incorporated into the platforms. Solana is a very new currency compared to other popular currencies. Developer Anatoly Yakovenko originally released the idea for Solana in 2017, and SOL launched last year, with its value surging in the late summer.

SOL is the Solana network’s cryptocurrency. Solana is a blockchain-based platform for decentralized finance and other smart contracts. People may use it to borrow, trade, lend and leverage cryptocurrency assets. SOL has soared on the promise that, unlike Ethereum, its major competition, Solana transactions will be inexpensive and lightning-fast.

Solana is a decentralized computing platform that accepts payments in $SOL. Solana attempts to increase blockchain scalability by combining proof of stake with so-called proof of history consensus. Solana claims to be able to sustain 50,000 transactions per second without affecting decentralisation as a result of this.

A combination of the proof-of-stake consensus method and an innovative technique termed “proof of history” is one way Solana achieves rapid transaction speeds. Proof of history is a method of keeping time across computers on a decentralized network without requiring all of the computers to interact and agree on it.

Solana is a computing platform that allows smart contracts to interface with it. From NFT markets and DeFi to games and decentralized lotteries, smart contracts support a wide range of applications.

Who is the team behind $SOL?

Solana’s roots may be traced back to late 2017 when inventor Anatoly Yakovenko published a whitepaper prototype describing a new distributed systems timekeeping approach titled Proof of History (PoH). One of the barriers to scalability in blockchains like Bitcoin and Etheruem is the time necessary to obtain consensus on transaction orders. Anatoly claimed that his innovative approach may automate the transaction sorting process for blockchains, allowing crypto networks to extend well beyond their current limits.

Later, Anatoly joined up with Greg Fitzgerald, a former Qualcomm colleague, to create a single blockchain network in Rust that uses PoH as its “internal clock.” In February 2018, the two released the project’s first internal testnet and official whitepaper. Stephen Akridge, a former Qualcomm colleague, claimed that shifting signature verification to graphics processors might boost transaction speed even further.

Greg and Stephen, as well as three other people, were recruited by Anatoly to start the firm that would later become Solana Labs. In addition to Qualcomm veterans, the initial team comprised former Apple engineers. They called the project Loom at first but then changed it to Solana to prevent confusion with Loom Network, an Ethereum Layer-2 scaling solution.

Solana Labs is still a major contributor to the Solana network, and the Solana Foundation assists in funding continuing development and community-building activities.

 What are the benefits of $SOL?

As a blockchain, Solana offers a number of ground-breaking features that contribute to its status as one of the world’s most performant Layer 1s. The Solana team has proposed a variety of ground-breaking improvements, each with implications for security, bandwidth, and decentralization. The Solana blockchain may be explained simply:

  • As part of its Programs, it does not use any state.
  • On-chain clock verification is available.
  • Transactions are streamed without the need for a global agreement.
  • Minimizes data packets and sends them via UDP.
  • The mempool is removed.

We can securely use Solana because of all of these advantages and more. The block speeds and cheap gas prices are the primary technological benefits here, allowing the community to properly experience what a next-generation launchpad platform looks and feels like.

Solana can be considered a more sophisticated variant in general, as it does not need Sharding, a relatively new concept. It’s a permissionless chain, which means anyone may add to it.

The token structure system on Solana will be one of the main victories that will be able to exploit it. When feasible, everything on Solana is tokenized. The pool manager can use the token to get access to the provided Swap.

One of the things that crypto has tried to accomplish in the past is to make things free and equal for everyone, which is why whitelist sharing is so common in communities and groups of investors. Users will be able to “give” their whitelists to other users on the network by making whitelist tokens instantly transferable.

At its foundation, Sol is a long-term initiative with a desire to capitalize on the greatest aspects of crypto technology, according to experts.

 How does $SOL compare to $ETH?

Ethereum and Solana are frequently compared for a variety of reasons. For starters, they both support smart contracts. Decentralized financial, or DeFi, apps and nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, rely on smart contracts, which are collections of code that carry out a set of instructions on the blockchain.

Solana is a credible rival to Ethereum, despite the fact that Ethereum is older and more well-known. One issue is that Ethereum’s potential for global-scale applications is fundamentally constrained due to the modest number of transactions per second it can support. Solana can handle tens of thousands of transactions per second, while Ethereum can only handle about 13 per second. Solana’s fees are likewise substantially lower.

One of the most common criticisms about Ethereum is its astronomically high transaction fees. Ethereum, on the other hand, offers its own set of benefits. Ethereum has a larger user base, more applications, and more stability.

Solana is said to be capable of processing up to 50,000 transactions per second. It’s a million times faster than Ethereum’s 30 transactions per second. In principle, Solana can process more transactions per second than Visa Inc. (V), which claims to be able to process 24,000 transactions per second.

Following is Ethereum gas prices rate at low, high and average:

Low Average High
ERC20 Transfer $30.71 $31.00 $31.00
Uniswap Swap $94.49 $95.38 $95.38
Uniswap Add/Remove LP $82.68 $83.46 $83.46

As a result, the most appealing feature of Solana is its scalability, followed by transaction costs. The typical transaction fee, according to Solana’s website, is roughly $0.00025. Again, far less expensive than Ethereum and even Cardano.

Solana appears to be a far more efficient platform on the surface. But how did it manage to accomplish this? Solana’s secret sauce is termed Proof-of-History, and it appears to be encoded into its consensus process (PoH).

Simply described, PoH is a system that allows validators to keep track of hashes in chronological order. It is feasible to cryptographically verify the passage of time between two occurrences using a “delay function.” This implies that validators may process transactions as they come in rather than waiting for a block to fill up, allowing for many more transactions to be handled per second in principle.

Solana also employs a protocol known as Turbine, which divides data into smaller chunks, making it quicker to handle. This is similar to what Ethereum plans to do with its “sharding” technology.

Ethereum, on the other hand, continues to use a Proof-of-Work method. This means that processing power should be consumed on a continuous basis to produce new blocks, putting a strain on the network and necessitating significantly higher energy use.

Ethereum, on the other hand, is severely constrained in terms of scalability and is also far more costly in its current configuration. This is partly due to Ethereum’s usage of Proof-of-Work rather than Proof-of-Stake.

So, what are the possibilities that Solana will dethrone Ethereum? The former has an advantage in terms of velocity and technological specifications. Ethereum, on the other hand, has a first-mover advantage and benefits from network effects.

In the end, Solana has a lot of potentials, but it’s unlikely to totally replace Ethereum. ETH has gained much too much traction, particularly in the field of DeFi Applications. Even while there are theoretically “better” options, Ethereum’s high gas prices and slower transactions haven’t stopped it from becoming the second-largest cryptocurrency, and users aren’t going to quit it in masse.

NFTs, on the other hand, are a rapidly increasing industry, and this is where Solana may flourish. Solana has a good chance of finding a place in the Dapps world and coexisting alongside Ethereum.

Solana continues to exceed Ethereum and even Bitcoin in terms of price performance. This is one of the best-designed cryptocurrencies, and it is swiftly gaining traction and followers. Even when the main cryptocurrencies were plummeting 10-15%, Solana stood up quite well, providing positive proof that this isn’t just a fad.

It has a lot of room for expansion and acceptance in the future. Will it be a viable alternative to Ethereum? Probably not, but it’s worth putting some money down on this. Even if it doesn’t, both cryptocurrencies have plenty of room to coexist. Solana is currently the third-largest crypto portfolio due to its recent increase.

 

Solana Ethereum
Block Time (time to create new blocks) 0.4 Sec 13 Sec
Block Size (number of transactions per block) 20 000 Transactions 70 Transactions
Fees (per transaction) $0.00 $15

How can I register an SOL Wallet Domain?

Because most users are unfamiliar with SOL’s on-chain addresses, the Solana domain name service may considerably improve payment convenience by creating simple and easy-to-read addresses. To create assets, users simply need to share a recognizable basic domain name. The act of transferring and exchanging information.

Of course, the Solana domain name is used not only to give a more convenient payment address but also to store IPFS content IDs, which are the unique identifiers for network hosting on the IPFS network.

Registration is actually rather straightforward in terms of technological implementation. It’s merely a request that has to be approved. However, the low cost of registration has created a new issue, which is likely to result in a high number of cybersquatting and subsequent resale. Anyone can register a.sol domain name to avoid this predicament in terms of specialized procedures.

To begin, you’ll need a Solana wallet with enough dollars to purchase and register a domain name. Start a different wallet. Make a password for yourself. You’ll need to fund your wallet once it’s ready.

Send some USDC to your Solana address if you already have it in a self-custodial wallet like Trust or a crypto exchange like FTX. It should be noted that this must be USDC issued on Solana, which is currently not accepted by the majority of exchanges.

If this isn’t an option, open an account on a cryptocurrency exchange of your choosing. To fund your account and purchase SOL, use a credit card or a bank/wire transfer. After that, email the SOL to your Solana address and wait for a response. Swap some SOL for USDC after your wallet is fully loaded.

If your selected domain is already being auctioned, you’ll need at least 20.01 USDC, but you may need more.

Each domain name can have related records, which can be used to simplify reverse lookups, and SNS is consistent with the semantics of DNS. Records are functionally equivalent to subdomains, and ownership of particular records can be transferred to other users. That’s all there is to it. Your Solana domain is now set up and ready to use with wallets, apps, and a variety of other Web3 applications.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Editorial Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airlines or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. Lifetailored has partnered with Creditcards.com for our coverage of credit card products. Lifetailored and Creditcards.com may receive a commission from card issuers Additional Disclosure: This site has affiliate links. We may be compensated when users make a purchase or register to a third party website. For more details read our privacy policy.

More in Lifestyle