Solana is one of the blockchains that was designed to solve the issues noticed in Ethereum, which mostly lacks scalability, has high costs and is transforming very slowly.
When Ethereum began and the number of platforms on the network was not high, transactions were verified quickly and users did not have to pay so much in transaction fees. As the network continued to notice an influx of users and decentralized apps on the blockchain, the speed of transaction verification and confirmation reduces. The transaction fees also increase drastically. This occurred because the Ethereum network did not scale as the number of users increased.
Solana is solving the aforementioned issues, at least theoretically, with its scalability solution. This is why Solana is seen as an Ethereum killer. It is one of the alternatives that developers are building their DeFi protocols and NFT platforms on, in recent times.Solana is a blockchain that is available for developers to build their decentralized apps such as Decentralized Finance platforms and NFT projects.
People are more inclined to develop their innovations on a chain that is fast and has a lower transaction fee.
Typically, minting an NFT on Ethereum can cost hundreds of dollars and even thousands of dollars depending on the congestion that the network is facing at that time. In the case of Solana, the gas fees are reduced drastically.
It is a proof of stake network, making it more environmentally friendly compared to Ethereum 1.0 which is a proof of work network.
Ethereum 2.0 is on a POS Blockchain, yet it will be long before it achieves the full benefits of a POS blockchain.
It has a theoretical throughput of 65,000 TPS, and has achieved nearly 4200 TPS, with very affordable transaction fees. Most people that are looking for more affordable options to build their decentralized apps tend to opt for Solana as their base blockchain.
Some critics believe that the creators sacrificed decentralization for scalability. In 2021, the chain was the subject of controversy because it broke down on multiple occasions.