How Solana, the “Ethereum Killer” Became a Crypto Superstar: Speed, Cost and Innovation

Solana, a rising star in the crypto space, has reached a new milestone by hitting its highest price level in a year as the “Ethereum killer”. The cryptocurrency, which claims to offer faster and cheaper transactions than its rivals Bitcoin and Ethereum, has seen a surge of interest from investors, developers and users in recent months.

According to onchain data, Solana was trading at $66.53 at the time of writing, up 19% in the past 24 hours and 50% in the past month. Its market cap has also grown more than five times since the same period last year, making it the seventh-largest cryptocurrency by that measure.

One of the main drivers of Solana’s growth is its potential in the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector, which aims to provide alternative financial services without intermediaries. Solana boasts a high total value locked (TVL) and active addresses in its DeFi ecosystem, indicating strong user and developer activity. According to DeFi Llama, a platform that tracks DeFi data, Solana’s TVL has increased by $233 million to $557 million since the start of October.

Solana also has a competitive edge in the payment and remittance market, thanks to its partnerships with Visa and CFX Labs. Visa, the global payment giant, announced in September that it would use Solana to revolutionize cross-border payments. CFX Labs, a U.S.-based fintech company, revealed that it raised $9.5 million in seed funding to expand its Solana-based stablecoin payment network globally. Solana’s stablecoin, fxUSD, is pegged to the U.S. dollar and can be sent and received overseas with low fees and high speed.

Another factor that has boosted Solana’s popularity is the endorsement from Cathie Wood, the CEO of ARK Invest, a prominent investment firm that focuses on disruptive innovation. Wood praised Solana for being faster and more cost-effective than Ethereum, the leading platform for smart contracts and DeFi. She also said that Solana’s network downtime, which occurred in September due to a denial-of-service attack, was acceptable for users who prioritize speed and cost over security.

Solana’s impressive performance and prospects have earned it the nickname of “Ethereum killer”, as some analysts predict that it could challenge Ethereum’s dominance in the crypto space. However, Solana still faces many challenges and uncertainties, such as scalability, regulation and competition. Whether Solana can sustain its momentum and live up to its hype remains to be seen.