Solana's arrival in the blockchain space has enabled the development of a new concept in the blockchain world. Launched in 2020, the Solana Network is a generic access blockchain that enables smart contracts.. In addition, it has its own cryptocurrency, called SOL. The latter is one of the top ten cryptocurrencies in terms of international capitalization, with a capitalization exceeding $64 billion (as of April 1, 2025). Data that shows the interesting evolution of this network, as it began as a chain designed solely for DApps — decentralized applications —, but it has since become a novel blockchain that breaks all the paradigms of the crypto ecosystem.
Not only because with Solana smart contracts are made that generate confidence, due to the fact that their network gains an increasingly large number of followers, being a direct competition to Ethereum. If not because the novelty of this blockchain is your algorithm consensus, which some consider one of the most promising in the sector.
PREPARE YOUR WALLETOthers claim that this algorithm is actually a mix between the consensus method and the traditional Bitcoin blockchain (the latter is closed and operates autonomously). The truth is that Solana grants a shift to mining protocols, transfers speed in cryptocurrencies, supporting itself in “exact timestamps”. This is how the well-known comes to life Proof of History (PoH), an algorithm that takes events, catalogs them, and follows the flow of time to power this powerful blockchain.
The Proof-of-History (PoH) algorithm and its new features
This unique algorithm has been developed and released since 2017, by Anatoly Yalovenko, founder and CEO of the company Solana Network. A curious fact is that despite all the work and development that PoH has undergone, it is still considered an incomplete algorithm. This is because many of its functionalities are still in development. experimentation. But, this “unfinished version"It is slowly being polished and shaped by the events it encompasses. PoH is an algorithm that creates exact timestamps of everything that happens on its blockchain. That is, It feeds on events that occur and optimizes the blockchain.. Making an analogy, we can say that PoH is an algorithm with the ability to have “experience of what happens".
Initially, this algorithm takes inspiration from the Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus algorithm. Proof of stake), which points to a constant economic agreement between users of a cryptocurrency network to make the blockchain work. However, Solana goes further: it aims to optimize its processes to the maximum, seeking the maximum speed, while maintaining a secure consensus for a highly decentralized network.
The thing is: consensus takes time, it requires information exchange! So the big question is How to speed this up? The strategy of Anatoly Yalovenko, along with the other Solana developers, is encode the time of events. But, this Time is not a measure of events, but something that is encoded in the blockchain.The result? High speed (more than 1500 transactions per second) without breaking the blockchain consensus model. This is the origin of PoH: combining the best of Proof of Stake for network security and event timestamps to make that model more flexible, allowing for process acceleration and, consequently, increasing network scalability.
Time that encodes itself, the invisible clock that optimizes the blockchain
The key to all this innovation is in Each node in the Solana network maintains its own clock, using a variable known as Verifiable Delay Function (VDF). Another advantage is that this function uses a single CPU core, lightening the load on the computer and through sequential steps, generating a single data output. In this way, all network transactions are recorded in each block. This speeds up the exchange of information, since Each block contains all the network information, allowing a query to be made from any block without any inconvenience.
LINK CARD AND EARNTo keep the consensus mechanism, SOL token holders only need to check the node from which they act. There's all the information, arranged in exact time! What this network records is that every transaction, or event, takes place "before another event"And"after another event”. This is the so-called “invisible clock"Solana's, which does not record dates or times, but rather the sequence of network events between them, assigning them a chronological signaling.
This is how the PoH algorithm optimizes consensus, as it allows for rapid information exchange. Its mission is speed up confirmation times, since it maintains a simple chain of transmission orders, thus allowing a linear scheme for block validation.
How does the Solana blockchain work?
It is certainly a A mix between “consensus” and the closed mechanism of conventional blockchainThe chain is established by the following rule: the output of one operation becomes the input of the nextParallel events are not allowed, so the blockchain is completely linear, but very fast. Paradoxically, by not allowing parallel events, greater speed is achieved, since information is read more quickly (linearly, not in layers).
It is important to clarify that the PoH algorithm is not in itself a consensus mechanism, but rather a tool to optimize and accelerate them. This allows for the involvement of thousands of nodes, with communication that is as fast as it is fluid, but without the need for hardware with significant computing power or the consumption of large amounts of energy.
The above is a big difference from the first versions of blockchain (as occurs in Bitcoin), since in these initial versions They need powerful computers that can solve a large number of calculations in a short time.The problem is that the network It becomes slow when the computers that connect have different capacities to perform these calculations..
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The hashes of operations in Solana use the encryption mechanism SHA256. To this is added the Turbine protocol, which facilitates the distribution of information between nodes. Everything is perfectly protected, thanks to the encryption mechanism, which is independent of transaction calculations. This further accelerates transfers and activities, making Solana an extremely fast network. Its “internal clock"It is changing the way we understand the blockchain mechanism, perhaps being the new alternative for crypto networks in the future.
A constantly evolving process
Best of all, Solana is a constantly evolving project. Its community is bustling with activity, and this is directly reflected in the constant improvement of this network. Time has passed since the network surpassed its former limitations. For example, constant outages and data loss are now much less common, and will become increasingly so as developers mature all of this network's software.
Of course, this evolution is also reflected in the acceptance and use of Solana. Now, such a young network (almost five years old) is competing head-to-head with high-caliber networks like Ethereum, surpassing it in performance and flexibility for its smart contracts and decentralized applications. This is a clear example of how Solana is constantly undergoing a process of constant, never-ending evolution, which provides feedback and improves this magnificent network so that all its users can enjoy it at all times.
