Solana Blockchain - Crypto Academy / S4W4 - Homework post for pelon53
QUESTION 1
Explain in detail the PoH of Solana
The PoH of Solana
Beginning with a brief explanation about the Solana blockchain, we see it as the most performant and permissionless blockchain known.
Making up the Solana network are 8 key innovation which are the tower BFT, turbine, gulf stream, sealevel, pipelining, cloudbreak, replication and the proof of history which I will be explaining detail below.
The proof-of-history in the Solana blockchain is based on cryptography. The Solana actually uses the SHA256 in its transactions, which is based on the proof of history. This is done by running a hash function continuously in such a way that the hash function becomes the input of the next hash function making it to form a hash chain.
With the proof of history, the system is allowed to order transactions in a chain of hashes which makes validators process and transmit less information in a block. With this, we see that transactions are confirmed in very less time making it quite efficient.
In complimentary, the proof of history in the Solana blockchain can be compared to the proof of stake mechanism since it is not a consensus mechanism.
So in the proof of history, what we will be emphasizing on is that the nodes using less time in validating the order of transactions.
QUESTION 2
Explain at least 2 cases of use of Solana
Use Cases of the Solana
A) Orca
We can access the orca platform at orca. the orca platform is know to be the most easiest place in exchanging cryptocurrency on the Solana platform. The orca is a decentralized exchange having very low transactions fee with the token same as its name orca.
On the platform we have the following core features which are the exchange, pools, staking and info.
Exchange
On the exchange tab, we can exchange different cyptocurrencies such as the orca, allbridge, sol, star atlas and others. But before doing that we need to connect our wallet which can be done as shown below.
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Pools
The next core feature is the pools. On the pool tab we can connect our wallet so as to provide liquidity on the pool.
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Staking
On the staking feature, we see APR of 74% when we stake the orca crypto.
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Info
And finally on the info tab, we can see the about the token, the collectibles, the statistics, the blocks and the FAQs, this is shown in the screenshot in the screenshot below.
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B) Cyclos
The next I will be taking on is the cyclos which is built o Solana as well as the serum. The cyclos is known to be the first concerntrated liquidity AMM on the Solana blockchain. The cyclos enables encouraging and high returns on the quiddityty pool. This is done through merging the concentrated liquidity with the serum central limit order book. It has its cryptocurency cys
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1 cys = 2.84 at the time of this article.
Exploring the cyclos, we can acess the platform from cyclos. the platform is very simple and straight forward. On logging in and clicking on the Trade Now now, we will be redirected to connect our wallet where we can swap various cryptocurrencies.
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Pool
The next we have is the pool where we can earn high concerntrated liquidity. This is done still by connecting the wallet. This is shown in the screenshot below.
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DEX
The next tab is the DEX. On clicking on the DEX, we will be redirected to the dex.cyclos where we can trade, swap or add market as shown on the screenshot below.
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QUESTION 3
Detail and explain the SOLA token
The SOLA Token
Describing the sola token, it is the native token of the solatoken platform which happens to be a decentralized exchange. The sola stands for the acronym social layer. Which is an open source ecosystem making its source codes available for improvements, audit and usage by just anyone.
The sola token has the following statistics as gotten from coingecko
- Market capitalization of $1387373
- 24 hour trading volume of $45892
- Circulating supply of $27153077
- A total supply of $27153077
- Maximum supply of $27153077
- And a fully diluted valuation of $1387373
This is shown in the screenshot below.
As of the last price, we can see it in the graph below. With a date of thursday 30th September having a price of $0.053 and a trading volume of $45,888.
QUESTION 4
When did Solana blockchain see its operations interrupted? Why? Explain
When Solana Blockchain saw its operation interruption
It was on the 14th of September 2021 when the Solana blockchain withness a great operation interruption. This was so severe so much so that the Solana blockchain was shut down for a day.
The main fault behind the operation interruption as explain by the Solana team was that it was due to a large number of transactions that were being carried out at the same time. This distorted the transaction flow which caused the paralyses of the blockchain.
As explained further, It presents that the transaction peak was loaded up to a peak of 400,000 TPS. Which actually flooded the transaction queue. This transactions actually exceeded the capacity of the Solana blockchain because the Solana could only accommodate a maximum of about 65000 TPS.
QUESTION 5
Check the last block generated in Solana and make an approximate calculation of how many blocks per second have been generated in Solana, taking into account from the initial block to the current one? Justify your answer and show screenshots.
Block Generation in Solana
I begin by logging into the solanabeach.io to get the last block as shown in the screenshots below.
We then log into the solscan.io where we search the block to get the various details as seen below.
Calculating the last block, we will use its launch date which was march 2020, indicate 18 months to date.
- The time of operation is 18 months
- Last block: 99065481
- Calculating the time of operation in seconds we have 18 * 2630000 = 47340000
Now calculating the average time per block, we have 47340000 / 99065481
= 0.47s
From the answer we see that the each block is generated at a time of 0.47s which we can approximate to 0.5
1 block = 0.5s
30 blocks = 1m
1800 blocks = 1hr
Etc..
Conclusion
We have seen the PoH in the Solana blockchain and how it functions which based on the cryptography using the SHA256 in carrying out transactions at a vey high speed.
Also in the use case, I have explored the orca and the cyclos which are decentralized exchanges which can easily be used to swap, stake and partake in liquidity pool. We have also seen the September 14 incident of the Solana blockchain and how to calculate the block generation time in the Solana blockchain.