Solana vs. Ethereum: The fundamental differences according to co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko

Solana (SOL) is often seen as a serious competitor to Ethereum (ETH), the second largest cryptocurrency in the world. Although both networks are decentralized and have many similarities, Anatoly Yakovenko, co-founder of Solana, points out a fundamental difference between the two projects.

Scalability through hardware

Scalability is one of the biggest challenges in the blockchain world. Both Ethereum and Solana are working on solutions to process a large number of transactions without sacrificing decentralization. Yakovenko emphasizes that Solana takes a unique approach by focusing on hardware scaling.

This approach allows validators to upgrade their hardware to process more transactions. This results in a linear increase in speed and capacity as better hardware becomes available. The advantage of this is that Solana can quickly respond to increasing demand, without the risk of the network becoming overloaded. Yakovenko also emphasizes that with Solana, only local issues affect transaction fees, which sets it apart from Ethereum.

Institutional adoption: Solana lags behind Ethereum

Despite Solana’s technical advantages, such as faster transactions and lower fees, it has not yet achieved the same level of institutional adoption as Ethereum. This is likely because Ethereum has been around longer and has a well-established community of developers and projects, which creates more trust and broader support in the market.

New record for Solana: 100 million active addresses, but with a caveat

Solana’s technical progress is evident from, among other things, the increase in on-chain activities. According to blockchain analytics platform Artemis Terminal, the network recently reached a new record of 100 million monthly active addresses. While this sounds impressive, the growth is less positive than it seems. The data shows that 86 million of these addresses have a balance of 0 SOL, suggesting that many wallets are empty. Additionally, there is speculation that bots are driving much of this growth, attracted by Solana’s low transaction fees.