Ethereum <> Solana 🧵on technical differences.
Disclaimer: Ethereum is unmatched and irreplaceable because of its innovative community with SKILLS, EXPERIENCE, STABILITY, MOMENTUM.
This thread is from a programming, protocol curiosity so we all grow by learning new concepts.
Disclaimer: Ethereum is unmatched and irreplaceable because of its innovative community with SKILLS, EXPERIENCE, STABILITY, MOMENTUM.
This thread is from a programming, protocol curiosity so we all grow by learning new concepts.
1. Positioning
Yes. Solana is positioning as a direct Ethereum competitor. It refers to other blockchains as "legacy chains".
It arguments that gas costs $ are unacceptable, and that 15 mins block times are too slow.
Solana claims:
- fees: $0.01
- block time: 400 milliseconds
Yes. Solana is positioning as a direct Ethereum competitor. It refers to other blockchains as "legacy chains".
It arguments that gas costs $ are unacceptable, and that 15 mins block times are too slow.
Solana claims:
- fees: $0.01
- block time: 400 milliseconds
2. Solana brings new technology to the table and that's admirable.
Majority of "Ethereum killers" are basically go-ethereum forks with swapped consensus (usually PoW is replaced by PoA).
Sol architecture is very different and from a quick research... it seems pretty smart 👇
Majority of "Ethereum killers" are basically go-ethereum forks with swapped consensus (usually PoW is replaced by PoA).
Sol architecture is very different and from a quick research... it seems pretty smart 👇
3. Consensus
This is where things get interesting. A lot of blockchain validator implementations use some version of Tendermint BFT.
Tendermint PoA is fast but it has a very chatty p2p sync. It must do the "polka dance" for each block and wait for all nodes to respond:
This is where things get interesting. A lot of blockchain validator implementations use some version of Tendermint BFT.
Tendermint PoA is fast but it has a very chatty p2p sync. It must do the "polka dance" for each block and wait for all nodes to respond:
3.1 Solana uses Proof of Stake to select the next set of validator leaders for a finite Epoch X AHEAD of time, and a Proof of History to assign work and order TXs.
Ahead of times means that the validators don't have talk to each other on every block; saves a ton of bandwidth.
Ahead of times means that the validators don't have talk to each other on every block; saves a ton of bandwidth.
3.2 The validators know ahead of time who will do what and when as everyone is running its own reliable clock. This makes the system fast.
About this clock thingy... 👇
"PoH is a globally-available, permissionless source of time in the network that works before consensus"
About this clock thingy... 👇
"PoH is a globally-available, permissionless source of time in the network that works before consensus"
3.3 When it's leader time to create a new block, it does it with a Verifiable Delay Function that runs on a single CPU core.
3.4 In contrast, the SEQUENCE VERIFICATION is efficient as it can be done in parallel on multiple cores AND also transactions can be EXECUTED in parallel.
4. No Mempool - this got me surprised!
Ethereum produces a new block every 15s and the block space is limited. Because every node is competing to create its own block, all transactions must be propagated to every node.
Solana engine forwards TXs directly to the next leader 💡
Ethereum produces a new block every 15s and the block space is limited. Because every node is competing to create its own block, all transactions must be propagated to every node.
Solana engine forwards TXs directly to the next leader 💡
5. The Smart Contracts (programs) are in Rust, and I think this will be a problematic learning curve for many new devs in the Solana ecosystem.
Ethereum Solidity language is much more dev-friendly. The overall contract structure resembles OOP and the syntax is straightforward.
Ethereum Solidity language is much more dev-friendly. The overall contract structure resembles OOP and the syntax is straightforward.
6. Solana comes with a Solana Program Library (SPL) as a collection of on-chain programs.
This is pretty neat because you get e.g. an ERC20 equivalent out of the box without having to write a custom unaudited contract code to create your new token. 💯 really good idea.
This is pretty neat because you get e.g. an ERC20 equivalent out of the box without having to write a custom unaudited contract code to create your new token. 💯 really good idea.
7. Solana is in Beta
All this is fancy and nice but only time and new attack vendors will test the Solana reliability and how clever the architecture actually is.
PS: Apologies if I inaccurately misunderstood any topic from a quick weekend research.
All this is fancy and nice but only time and new attack vendors will test the Solana reliability and how clever the architecture actually is.
PS: Apologies if I inaccurately misunderstood any topic from a quick weekend research.
cc @solana if there is something incorrect - feel free to roast this thread, so we all learn more about the protocol architecture and motivation.
8. NFTs
Because the SPL programs can create also non-fungible tokens, Solana has its own version of @opensea called @SolanartNFT
The most significant NFT project is called "Degenerate Ape Academy" and it's an Ethereum version of CryptoPunks.
With prices going bananas loco $..
Because the SPL programs can create also non-fungible tokens, Solana has its own version of @opensea called @SolanartNFT
The most significant NFT project is called "Degenerate Ape Academy" and it's an Ethereum version of CryptoPunks.
With prices going bananas loco $..
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