The Solana ecosystem is a cluster of technologies that work in tandem with the protocol to increase its speed and scalability.
The ecosystem also includes a collection of dApps built on the open-source Solana network.
In the Solana ecosystem, smart contracts are called “programs”. The word ‘dApp’ is short for ‘decentralized application’. Decentralized applications or programs exist and run on a blockchain or a peer-to-peer (P2P) computer network instead of a single computer. This means the application or program is not controlled by a single authority; instead, control is shared by multiple users.
From the technological perspective, the Solana ecosystem is a technology cluster that works with the protocol to boost speed and scaling. The ecosystem employs the Proof-of-History (PoH) protocol. PoH is not just another consensus mechanism; it is a unique synchronization algorithm designed for Solana. The main task is to set a single time stream of events and put timestamps on each block without complex, time- and energy-hungry computing, like the Bitcoin and Ethereum chains. Thanks to the timestamps, the validators can work on the transactions faster, which reduces the network strain and enhances Solana’s bandwidth.
It is worth noting that, on average, for users, applying a dApp on the Solana blockchain is several times cheaper, and for customers, the cost is about the same as on EVM-compatible networks.
1) Transactions using the dApp are faster since Solana is the fastest blockchain technology compared to other blockchains
Solana is one of the fastest blockchains globally. Solana processes an average of 2,500 transactions per second (tps), but Solana is stable at 50000 tps, also the theoretical limit is 710k tps. Thus, Solana has great growth potential.
2) Another significant advantage of Solana Dapp Development is that it is independent of any centralized authority
With DApp, there is no need to integrate with a fiat payment provider to accept funds from the users, as they can transact directly using cryptocurrencies.
3) It has a high level of transparency and security
Decentralized apps rely on a blockchain to store sensitive data. So, they can guard against any intrusion by anyone trying to alter the data to steal money or censor the content.
All transactions are visible on https://solscan.io/. Currently, it is possible to verify the code of dApps written on the Anchor framework, which increases the community’s trust in the Solana project.
With public and private keys, the users can transact and bind their metadata and sessions easily and with varying degrees of anonymity, negating the need for lengthy registration and signup processes.
4) Low transaction fees and operating costs
To process a transaction on a blockchain platform, the user must pay a minimum tx fee.
The cost of a transaction in Solana is not only a transaction fee, but also a storage rental for data storage, which can be quite significant.
In well-written projects, the cost for data storage is fairly distributed between the project owner and users, providing, on average, the total (per transaction and storage) costs for the user are 100 times less “overhead” compared to Etherium, that is, not 0.00025$, and about $0.03–0.2 for heavy “initializing” transactions and $0.00025 for the “lightest”, operational ones. For comparison, processing a transaction on Ethereum costs $3–19. The good news is that when the data on the blockchain is no longer needed, you can return the funds spent on renting a place for the bytecode of smart contracts, and your users can return the funds spent on “heavy” transactions.
5) No mempool issue
Mempool in blockchain implicates the waiting area in which the transaction waits after getting processed for it to be accepted by the blockchain. In Solana, there is no such hassle of Mempool status on the network; it directly adds the transactions to the blockchain, therefore saving a lot of time and minimizing the network congestion. It positively affects network security by fundamentally eliminating the possibility of front-run/sandwich attacks.
6) Reliable programming
Solana is an adult ecosystem with advanced tools and has a trouble-free dApps deployment process. It can exponentially host multiple decentralized applications on its platform.
All the decentralized applications are built using Rust on the Solana ecosystem. Rust is one of the most used programming languages and in Solana, it addresses the issues of memory safety and thread concurrency.
It should be noted the Anchor framework allows you to apply a declarative approach to writing smart contracts, which increases the clarity and, accordingly, the reliability of the code. And to maintain a good level of security helps to use Automatic Auditors.
- Since the codes are open-source, bad actors can and will scour the codes looking for loopholes to exploit these apps. Hence, it’s always good to keep your crypto safe by ensuring that your wallet is connected only to dApps that you trust.
- It’s not a bug, it’s a feature. dApps being open-source also means that other developers often create new concepts of current dApps, with the hopes of coming up with newer, better dApps.
Now that we are familiar with the advantages of building on the Solana platform, let us dive into the steps to create a decentralized application.
Developing decentralized applications on Solana usually involves several steps: initiating the project, searching for a developer, developing the smart contract and interface design, testing, and deployment.
Step 1: initiating the project
Launching any startup, including dApps on Solana, starts with defining the project’s concept and business targets. Before searching for a developer and beginning the development, you must specify the purpose of your application and its target audience. The clearer you understand the logic of your application, the easier it will be to find the right talent to implement your idea.
Step 2: searching for a development company
The second step of developing dApps on Solana is finding a skilled blockchain developer. Moreover, the developers must have experience launching blockchain solutions in your sector.
Step 3: design a good user interface for dApp
Remember that initiating a smart contract through the user interface takes some time since the blockchain transactions are not instant. A good idea will be to add an animation to the interface to show that the process is going and the application is not frozen. Also, adding integrations with popular cryptocurrency wallets will make the registration more accessible, which is a good idea.
Step 4: Develop dApp smart contracts
Smart contracts or smart contracts combination is a place where the inner logic of your decentralized application is based. It will include the actions that will automatically execute the dApp. For example, exchanging one cryptocurrency for another or crypto-secured lending.
Solana smart contract development requires:
- Working on the smart contract logic;
- Developing the gateways and the API of the dApp;
- Integrating dApp to Solana blockchain;
Smart-contracts are developed by the TDD methodology — this slightly increases the time to start integrating with the rest of the dApp. On the other hand, this greatly facilitates the further work of the entire team, because you can use the contract as a “trusted point” with proven code.
Step 5: Integrate Smart Contracts with the front-end and back-end systems
Integration starts from the MVP stage, about ⅔ of development. And closer to the finale, all the parts are tied together.
Step 6 — final. Test the developed application
Contracts are developed immediately with testing, thanks to the TTD methodology.
At this stage, the testing department is engaged in testing the entire dApp as a whole, namely functional, usability, security, and performance testing.
Step 7: The developed application is deployed to the Mainnet
As a final step, you need to deploy your app, which includes adding a smart contract to the blockchain, adding mobile apps to the App Store and Google Play marketplaces, and switching the internal portal to a working environment. In terms of maintenance, it’s more of an ongoing process. Even though the smart contract will remain unchanged, you still have to update the user interface, making it more user-friendly.
Solana has grown in popularity as a result of its broad scalability and cost-effectiveness and sustainability. It means Solana will be DeFi’s future leader.
Contact us and let’s start working together on your projects! https://crypton.studio
Join Coinmonks Telegram Channel and Youtube Channel learn about crypto trading and investing