Solana, often dubbed the ‘Ethereum Killer’, has soared 80% over the past month and 30% over the past week – but why?
SOL, the native token of the Solana network, has enjoyed a particularly fruitful Uptober, outpacing Bitcoin, Ethereum and other altcoins.
At the time of writing, SOL is trading at $42.12, representing an 80% gain from last month.
Since October 30, the crypto has surged by 26%, coinciding with the latest Solana development: Firedancer.
Read more: Solana Explained | A beginner’s guide
Firedancer is a new independent validator client for the Solana blockchain, built by Jump Crypto. It’s a long-term scaling solution that minimises the risk of software glitches on Solana, which has historically been plagued by network outages.
Speaking at Solana’s Breakpoint conference on October 31, Solana Foundation executive director Dan Albert announced that Firedancer is now live on testnet.
Albert said that the team has been “hustling hard” and “working around the clock” to see Firedancer go live.
Speaking on Decrypt’s gm podcast in August 2022, Anatoly Yakovenko, founder of Solana, said that Firedancer will be a “long-term fix” to Solana’s outages. It will also handle more transactions in a way that’s more efficient.
“Because it’s a separate team, the probability of them having the same bugs in their code as ours becomes virtually zero,” Yakovenko said.
The other key driver: real world adoption
Solana doesn’t just talk the talk when it comes to its real-world applications. In August, Solana Pay integrated with Shopify, one of the biggest e-commerce platforms in the world. Shopify hosts some huge businesses, including Gymshark, Penguin Books, Red Bull, Whole Foods Market, Kylie Cosmetics, and many more.
The platform has facilitated over $444 billion in economic activity across 170 countries.
Solana Pay is a peer-peer payment protocol that has no intermediaries, eliminating bank fees, chargebacks and holding times. It also enables immediate, direct payment settlements of USD stablecoins compatible with Solana, according to Solana Labs.
Shopify and Solana Pay aside, Visa also tapped Solana for USDC merchant payments as it seeks to modernise its cross-border settlement capabilities.
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