Solana

FAQ's

What is Solana?

Solana is a high-performance cryptocurrency blockchain which supports smart contracts and decentralized applications. It uses a proof of stake consensus mechanism with a low barrier to entry along with timestamped transactions to maximize efficiency.

This allows Solana to process 50-65,000 transactions per second with a theoretical limit of over 700,000 transactions per second (compared to Bitcoin’s 7 TPS and Ethereum’s 15 TPS).

In contrast to other similar projects such as Polkadot and Ethereum 2.0 (coming soon), Solana is a single blockchain (layer 1) and does not delegate operations to other attached chains (layer 2).

How was Solana Launched?

Solana launched on Mainnet Beta in Mar. 2020, shortly after raising $1.76 million in a public token auction hosted on CoinList. The project’s beta network featured basic transaction capabilities and smart contract support.

Solana was conceived in 2017 when its founder Anatoly Yakovenko sought out a way for a decentralized network of nodes to match the performance of a single node. None of the major blockchains come close to achieving this property. Achieving this is Solana’s north star.

Who is the team behind Solana?

Some of the main team members behind Solana include the following:

Anatoly Yakovenko – Founder and CEO
Greg Fitzgerald – Co-founder and CTO
Raj Gokal – COO
Eric Williams – Data Science and Tokenomics
Hsin-Ju Chuang – Head of Growth
Stephen Akridge – Principal Engineer
Mihael Vines – Principal Engineer
Rob Walker – Principal Engineer

How to Stake SOL?

Staking your SOL tokens on Solana is the best way you can help secure the world’s highest-performing blockchain network, and earn rewards for doing so!

In order to stake tokens on Solana, you first will need to transfer some SOL into a wallet that supports staking, then follow the steps or instructions provided by the wallet to create a stake account and delegate your stake.

The whole process might take you not longer than 20minutes, ànd you will keep full control of your funds.

There is no required minimum amount to stake and the rewards are automatically reinvested.

For more information on Staking SOL, please read our Step-by-Step Guide on How to Stake Solana.

How much can I make staking SOL?

Solana has a proposed 8% inflation rate which is gradually decreasing by 15% per year, until reaching a floor of 1.5%.

The proposed inflation is considering a 400ms slot time. However the current average slot time could the longer, and thus the inflation is considerably lower.

The inflation is distributed together with transaction fees between all validators proportionally to their staking balance.

Validators share the rewards with their delegators after deducting their commission.

To estimate your Staking Rewards check out the Solana Staking Rewards Calculator here.

How to choose the right Solana Validator?

When choosing a validator to delegate your SOL tokens, make sure to look at the commission rate which has a direct impact on your rewards being paid out. Low Commission = High Rewards.

However please note that commission rates are the bread and butter for many validators. They rely on it to maintain reliable operations.

Furthermore, it is important to make sure that the selected validator is able to maintain a solid close to 100% uptime for their services.

You may want to consider delegating to smaller validators in order to further decentralize the network. This does not only support the network resilience, but also the value of your SOL investment long-term.

Also consider validators that are long-term committed to providing value to Solana by supporting the platforms app development, tooling, and educational materials.

At Staking Rewards we have pre-vetted a bunch of validators in Solana. Browse through the list above and search for the verified badge. These validators are registered with Staking Rewards and are considered reliable. Please note that any validator is free to get in touch with us to get verified. We are not affiliated with any of them and thrive to provide an independent ranking.

Is there any risk to staking SOL?

There is no significant risk when delegating SOL.

Please consider that there is a risk of slashing up to 100% of your funds, in case that the validator you delegated to, signs illegal transactions or votes for illegal forks. However if the validator and your funds get slashed would be decided case by case based on an on-chain governance vote.

If you choose a reliable validator, the risk of slashing should be close to 0.

Additionally, please consider that there is a 2 days unbonding period before you can access your delegated funds and transfer them.