Solana vs Polkadot: What Are the Differences?

In 2021, the entire crypto market was valued at $2 trillion and one expects that this number will get updated ten-fold as 2022 comes to a close.

If you’ve decided to invest in cryptocurrency, there’s no time like the present as your favorite coins are likely to become more expensive.

But with so many different cryptocurrencies available, you’re likely not sure which to buy.

Two cryptocurrencies that have made strides since 2020 have been Solana and Polkadot. But in the battle between Solana vs Polkadot, which is the clear winner?

Here’s what you need to know:

What Is Solana?

Solana is intended to speed up transactions on the blockchain, especially with regard to Bitcoin and Ethereum. It’s a new cryptocurrency, just launched in 2017 but has become popular since 2020.

It’s also one of the more affordable cryptocurrencies available as the Solana CAD exchange is usually between $10 to $20 in most cases.

Many investors buy it to operate on the Solana blockchain while others are looking to make a profit on it.

As Solana’s price is low today, it’s seen as an attractive investment for many cryptocurrency investors who hope the price will skyrocket in the future.

You should read the Solana guide to understand how it works and why it was created. This will help you determine if you should invest in it at all.

As with most cryptocurrencies, Solana’s popularity hasn’t been as fast as Ethereum or Bitcoin Cash, the leaders of ‘altcoins.’

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What Is Polkadot?

Polkadot was launched one year before Solana and was also intended to solve an issue with Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Polkadot’s founder, Gavin Wood, felt that Bitcoin and Ethereum use too much electricity for transactions.

As with Solana, it’s become popular, especially with the discussions and debates on how cryptocurrency can harm the environment.

Polkadot, like Solana, has also been on the lower end. Most people have bought Polkadot with the hopes that the price will increase and they’ll make a great profit.

However, more and more, people are seeing that there might be a great use case for adopting Polkadot.

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As with Solana, make sure you read the Polkadot guide from their website to fully understand how it works.

So, both these cryptocurrencies seem useful and have a lot in common. If you can only pick one, which one should you pick? This all depends on what your strategy is with cryptocurrency.

Why Buy Cryptocurrency?

Before you invest in either Solana or Polkadot, you have to first decide why you want to buy cryptocurrency.

For most investors, cryptocurrency is a digital asset from which they hope to make a profit. They want to buy a cryptocurrency token when the price is low and sell it when it’s higher.

Fortunes have been made with Bitcoin, for example, but now it’s priced at around $17K as of the beginning of December 2022. For the average investor, becoming rich off Bitcoin is no longer an option.

However, one shouldn’t always look at cryptocurrency as a way to get rich. Few cryptocurrencies have risen in price the way that Bitcoin or Ethereum have.

There should be a larger purpose for buying cryptocurrency. For example, let’s look at Bitcoin.

Bitcoin, for many investors, isn’t a digital asset. Rather, they see it as a form of money just like any other.

These investors don’t care about price or any other use for Bitcoin. They want to accumulate as much Bitcoin as possible to use it as money.

However, this hasn’t caught on with altcoins — or, any cryptocurrency other than Bitcoin.

As of now, Solana and Polkadot don’t seem to have any purpose other than their intended purpose.

As a result, you have to decide if either of their purposes is useful to you. If you think Bitcoin and Ethereum pose a threat to the environment, you might find some use in Polkadot.

If you think these transactions on the blockchain need to speed up, you might find Solana useful.

Best Practices

Now let’s look at a few best practices you have to consider when you invest in cryptocurrency.

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You should always consult your financial advisor no matter what. You have to remember that the cryptocurrency market is volatile.

You might spend $16 to buy 1 token today and that 1 token can fall down to $2 tomorrow.

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Make sure you also only invest what you’re willing to lose. While one should hope for the best, you have to expect that you might lose your full sum when you buy cryptocurrency.

You also want to learn about how easy it is to trade or convert your cryptocurrency. For example, you can always convert your Bitcoin to USD if you need to.

But with altcoins, this isn’t always the case. For example, if Bitcoin Cash’s servers are down, you’ll have to wait for maintenance to take place before you can trade or exchange it.

You want to check both the server uptime statistics for Solana and Polkadot to see if either is worth your investment.

While occasional downtime isn’t the end of the world, you don’t want to be in a predicament where you can’t rely on their servers when you can.

You also want to look at the supply of a particular cryptocurrency before you invest in it. Bitcoin and a few altcoins have a limited supply. This means that they retain their value.

But you should also keep in mind that altcoins can change their supply as they’re controlled by companies. Research Solana and Polkadot’s goals to see if you think they’ll retain their value.

Solana vs Polkadot: Who Wins?

In the war between Solana vs Polkadot, you can see that there’s no clear winner.

Solana’s main purpose is to help speed up transactions on the blockchain. Polkadot’s intention is to solve the environmental problems of the most popular cryptocurrencies.

You have to come up with a strategy for why you want to buy cryptocurrency. Use our best practices as well and you’ll be able to decide which is the better option for you.

You can find more articles about cryptocurrency on our website.

Jonathon Spire

Jonathon Spire

Tech Blogger at Jonathon Spire

My diverse background started with my computer science degree, and later progressed to building laptops and accessories. And now, for the last 7 years, I have been a social media marketing specialist and business growth consultant.

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Jonathon Spire

I blog about a range of tech topics.

For the last 7 years I have been a social media marketing specialist and business growth consultant, so I write about those the most.

Full transparency: I do review a lot of services and I try to do it as objectively as possible; I give honest feedback and only promote services I believe truly work (for which I may or may not receive a commission) – if you are a service owner and you think I have made a mistake then please let me know in the comments section.

– Jon