What is Solana (SOL)? It is a protocol that enables the creation of blockchain applications with scalability. This means that developers can use it under their own brand to create applications. And due to its scalability, it can manage a large volume of transactions without any issues.

The Solana price is currently hovering around the 33.36 GBP level, this project is undergoing numerous exciting developments. SOL can be purchased at spot GBP price on any of the [major UK exchanges](/news/article/best-exchanges-for-crypto-uk).

This post will examine SOL in greater detail and explain whether you should consider investing in it!

## What is SOL?

It is a project that wants to [scale blockchain protocols](/news/article/solana-price-uk) so that they can handle real-world applications. The team behind Solana appears to have a lot of experience in both the traditional financial sector and technology.

So, SOL is a new cryptocurrency created to help make the technology more accessible and user-friendly. The Solana coin protocol allows developers to create and launch their blockchain-based applications on a white label basis. 

They can use SOL to power their applications without worrying about the underlying infrastructure. In addition, Solana can be used to pay for transaction fees and other costs associated with using the latest technology. 

## What are the use cases of SOL?

•	It can be used to produce and manage digital assets.

•	Developers can construct decentralized applications (dapps) using SOL.

•	On its platform, it can be used to pay for goods and services.

•	Participating in the platform's consensus mechanism enables users to earn interest in their SOL.

•	SOL can be traded for other cryptocurrencies or fiat money on exchanges.

In addition, SOL provides [many features and benefits](https://www.cryptonewsz.com/forecast/solana-price-prediction/) that make it an attractive option for developers looking to create and launch their decentralized applications.

## Bottom line

SOL is a scalable protocol that facilitates the creation of decentralized applications by programmers. The protocol employs a one-of-a-kind consensus mechanism to achieve high transaction throughput without compromising security.

Additionally, it features a native token, SOL, which can be used to pay network transaction fees. The protocol is open source and available for white label use by anyone.


The Solana blockchain & current price in GBP

Blockchain use cases grow as the technology enters new domains. The tokenised and reward-based system increases its applications and helps bring positive societal changes.

One such application of blockchain is move-to-earn. These applications encourage people to walk more and earn tokens as incentives.

Recently, [STEPN](https://www.stepn.com/) has risen in popularity among the move-to-earn apps. It is a Web3-based lifestyle app that includes GameFi as well as SocialFi. It is one of the notable use cases as it is built with the idea of promoting a healthy lifestyle.

## Tokenomics of STEPN App

Its tokenomics involves two tokens; Green Satoshi Token (GST) and Green Metaverse Token (GMT). You can earn GST through the games, whereas GMT is a governance token you can get through events or earn after crossing 30 levels. 

You also have non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as your sneakers. Initially, you have to purchase sneakers to start walking, jogging, or running with STEPN. They have different types and attributes that help with the game modes. Also, you can burn your GSTs to upgrade or mint sneakers.

## Mainstreaming STEPN in Japan

Recently, STEPN has been working to spread the use of the app in Japan. For this reason, it is looking to partner up with the LINE blockchain. LINE is one of the known Japanese tech corporations for decentralised application development. It has agreed to work with the fitness lifestyle app to bring it to the mainstream in Japan. 

Find Satoshi and LINE Xenesis have signed an MOU to introduce STEPN in the Japanese market. It is an already popular app in the country, and this agreement will further help promote it throughout Japan. 

The CEO and Representative Director of LINE Xenesis, Lim Inkyu, has shared his thoughts about this development. He believes the app is an ideal example of [Web3](/articles/learn-moni/web-3.0-crypto) usage in the real world. He also mentioned that this collaboration might lead to more blockchain and Web3 use cases for the people of Japan.


Blockchain Use Cases: Move-to-Earn Apps

Cross-chain bridges have been the focus of many attacks this year. New data from blockchain analytics firm Elliptic claims that one of the cross-chain bridges, Renbridge, was [used in the laundering of more than $540 million](https://hub.elliptic.co/analysis/cross-chain-crime-more-than-half-a-billion-dollars-has-been-laundered-through-a-cross-chain-bridge/) in illegitimate crypto assets.

According to Wednesday's study, RenBridge, a crypto bridge, has assisted the laundering of at least $540 million in illegal profits since 2020 using a method known as chain hopping. This involves turning one type of cryptocurrency into another and transferring it across various blockchains.

Decentralised cross-chain bridges, according to Elliptic, give "an uncontrolled alternative to exchanges for moving currency between blockchains".

## Cross-chain Bridge Exploits

Cross-chain bridges, also known as blockchain bridges, are mainly utilised for lawful reasons, allowing users to exchange cryptocurrency effortlessly between blockchain networks.

Users often deposit tokens from one chain to the bridge protocol, which is locked into a contract, after which the user receives the equivalent of a parallel token in another chain.

Elliptic warns that these bridges have also been used to launder criminal earnings by ransomware gangs, exploiters, and hackers. It says RenBridge accounts for at least $540 million in laundered proceeds since 2020.

According to the firm, at least $2.4 million in crypto assets stolen during the Nomad attack on August 2 passed across the cross-chain bridge.

Elliptic also revealed that assets from decentralised finance (DeFi) services worth at least $267.2 million had been laundered through the cross-chain bridge in the past two years. It adds that a chunk of the $80 million stolen from the Liquid Global exchange last year, reportedly by North Korea, used RenBridge cross-chain platform.

So far, the Conti ransomware gang, which notoriously struck the Costa Rican government in June, has laundered more than $53 million using RenBridge.

RenBridge is also said to be popular with Russia-linked ransomware operations, with $153 million in ransomware being laundered through the site.

Tornado Cash, a decentralised mixer meant to disguise the sources of cryptocurrency, was [sanctioned earlier this week](/news/article/tornado-cash) by the United States Treasury department. The authority took similar action in May with the mixer Blender.io. The US Treasury noted suspected exploitation by North Korean cyber organisations in both instances.

Additional digital services, such as privacy and censorship avoidance, can be used for illegal and non-criminal objectives. However, DeFi is particularly vulnerable to theft and hacking, and finding chokepoints might benefit security experts and governments.


RenBridge Used to Launder $540M

Ethereum merge news is having an impact on the price of digital assets linked to the blockchain.

ETH-based digital asset funds have seen positive inflows for seven straight weeks as institutional investors pile in, according to the latest CoinShares report. There were $16.3 million inflows last week, bringing total inflows to $159 million over seven weeks.

Market sentiment for Ethereum-focused products is primarily due to "greater clarity" regarding the upcoming merge. It is scheduled for September 19, according to CoinShares Head of Research James Butterfill on Monday. A shift from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake in Ethereum's algorithm is credited with the change in investor sentiment.

Finally, Ethereum 2.0 Beacon Chain will be added to the mainnet in the merge, concluding an important transition from PoW to PoS. When Ethereum switches to a PoS consensus mechanism, it should become more secure and use less energy, which will, of course, help make it less harmful to the environment.

The Goerli and Prater testnet merge is also scheduled for this week, and it will be the final dress rehearsal before the mainnet merge takes place in less than six weeks.

## Traders are getting ready for the next round of trading

[Cryptocurrency analysts Glassnode have predicted](https://cointelegraph.com/news/institutions-flocking-to-ethereum-for-7-straight-weeks-as-merge-nears-report) that the anticipated Ethereum merge news will lead to "buy the rumor and sell the news" among traders. For Ethereum, "derivatives traders are placing obvious bets on the upcoming merge."

An analytics firm's newsletter, Betting on the Merge, ETH options and futures are now in "backwardation". That is a situation in which the current price of an asset is higher than the prices trading in the futures market.

When it comes to the Ethereum merge news, futures and options markets are in a backwardation after September, which suggests that traders are anticipating an event like this and have positioned themselves accordingly, the newsletter said. Data from Ethereum options shows professional traders are ready to go long on ETH's Merge, which is relevant.

However, [the merge's impact on Ether's price](/news/article/ethereum-merge) is yet to be determined.

In a recent interview, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin said the "narrative" is likely to remain positive after the merge, which is "an aspect that hasn't yet been priced in."

He added, "I expect morale to soar once the merger is completed. In other words, I believe the merger will not be priced in, and by that, I mean not just in terms of market value, but also in terms of psychological impact and narrative arc. After the fact, I don't think it's going to be factored into the narrative at all."

CoinGecko reports the price of Ethereum is $1,776 at the time of writing, up 8.6% in the last seven days.



Ethereum Merge News Just Around the Corner

Almost every particular business is obligated by contracts to collaborate with a lot of different organizations in order to deliver their goods and services, and a private blockchain is presented as something that can add more efficiency by automating these operations between different parties.

Back in 2008, the original [Bitcoin](/coins/btc) blockchain was created to act freely without intermediaries such as banks or central governments. However, this kind of technology can still work within the locked radius.

This means a private entity, usually the company, can implement its own blockchain and observe all the transactions added to the chain. This doesn’t mean the system isn’t secure, but it means that the project is based on the trust of decision-makers. 

There are numerous big suppliers of digital platforms based on the private type of block technologies, such as Ripple or R3’s Corda. These are called permissioned blockchains as they usually halt access to transaction data. 

Back in 2019, China started building a platform that seeks to boost the implementation of this kind of technology in companies. Dubbed the Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN), its product is focused on companies, especially their operating cloud computing infrastructure. 
However, outside of China, companies suddenly discovered that enterprise, or private chains were totally useless. In 2021 IBM decided to dismantle its blockchain team. Just few months later, Microsoft decided to ditch its service on its Azure cloud. 

Even though it was once seen as a great initiative in the health and medical sector, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration decided to not proceed with exploring blockchain use cases in its field.

According to technology market research company, Gartner “successful permissioned enterprise blockchain projects are scarce.”

Gartner commented that even though things such as DeFi, tokenization and digital payments can seem attractive, enterprise blockchain doesn’t work that way since its users “are stuck trying to align use cases to the technology.”

“The value of permissioned blockchain is hard to understand since it does not implement the most revolutionary aspect of public blockchains – i.e., trust minimization and elimination of central authority, achieved via decentralized consensus,” [Gartner wrote](https://blogs.gartner.com/avivah-litan/2021/05/24/microsoft-ends-azure-blockchain-service-where-is-enterprise-blockchain-heading/).

## What is a private permissioned blockchain?

Private permissioned blockchain means it operates within the closed framework — meaning it can be good for companies as it handles immense amounts of data and transactions that businesses normally process.

In a private permissioned blockchain, the whole network is shared by a consortium of companies. The network administrator is the one who configures roles and permissions for all nodes and users who act as participants within the consensus process.
 
## How does a private network work?

•	Not all network users have equal rights. The latter is the result of the position user has within the organization

•	Not every user has the granted permission and different data types are accessed only by those who have

•	Network participants set the rules for the access mechanism 

One of the most famous enterprise blockchains is Hyperledger Fabric. 

It provides strong reliability of the state itself and, at the same time, manages to do numerous transactions in only one second. 

## When should one consider private blockchain?

The main difference between private and public blockchain is that anyone can join the public one. Only authorized users can become members of a private one. 

Usually, startups like to accentuate the importance of the trustless concept within the public one that is fertile ground for innovations, and enterprises are more inclined to the usage of a private chain in order to create multi-party business applications that have high scalability and operate inside of a trusted environment.

## What is it more appropriate to use in a business enterprise environment?

For companies, private blockchains tend to be more efficient than public. Still, the problem is that these sometimes alternate speeds for decentralization. 

Still, private blockchain companies can earn profit by simply signing contract deals with other companies. They enter in arrangements with other firms in order to create this kind of infrastructure and, therefore, design and develop blockchain applications. They also provide services for some period of time by signing this contract.



How useful are private blockchains?

The [Ethereum Merge](https://ethereum.org/en/upgrades/merge/) is a highly anticipated event of 2022 in the crypto community. The event will mark the completion of the second phase of the Ethereum 2.0 upgrade. The Ethereum Mainnet will merge with the Beacon Chain, transitioning it from a Proof-of-work to a Proof-of-stake blockchain.

## The Beacon Chain

Launched on December 1st, 2020, the Beacon Chain is a proof of stake blockchain running parallel to the Ethereum blockchain. The chain is a consensus layer that handles a network of stakers. Since its creation, the Beacon chain has been put under various tests to test its reliability and capabilities.

The Ethereum Merge will see the Beacon Chain’s proof of stake consensus replace Ethereum’s proof of stake consensus. The Beacon Chain will become the prime blockchain on the Ethereum network.

## Impact of the Ethereum Merge

There are many reasons to be excited about the Ethereum Merge. The event is not just for crypto holders as its success will see Ethereum reduce its carbon footprint significantly.

The crypto space has for the longest time been under great criticism due to its negative impact on the environment, especially blockchains that use proof of work consensus mechanism.

Some of the benefits of the Ethereum Merge include Ethereum’s transition to proof of stake, better network security, and a possible increased user base.

## Benefits of the Merge

•	Transition to Proof of Stake consensus mechanism
Ethereum like Bitcoin has been using a Proof of Work consensus mechanism to verify transactions, add new blocks, and network security. The problem with proof of work is its high energy consumption rate. Its high energy consumption rate makes it harmful to the environment.

With proof of stake, Ethereum replaces miners with validators. The network no longer requires high energy-consuming hardware for security.
According to research done in 2021 by researchers at the Ethereum Foundation, Ethereum’s transition to proof of stake consensus can cut its energy use by at least 99.95%.

•	Better network security
The proof of stake consensus mechanism eliminates the need for expensive network security hardware. The consensus mechanism introduces staking, where any crypto holder can participate in securing a blockchain network.

Proof of stake makes it easy for anyone to help secure the Ethereum network. The more people participate in security the more robust the chain becomes. More people securing a network increase its decentralization. Proof-of-stake, therefore, also reduces centralization risks.

A plus for Proof of Stake is that it can also enable a network to become more censorship-resistant. Mining hardware tends to be easy to detect and shut down. However, the same cannot be said about computers running validator nodes.

•	Increased user base
There is a high possibility of more people and developers flocking to the Ethereum network after the Merge. High gas fees and slow transaction speeds have kept many people and developers away from the network. However, after the merge, the inefficiencies can become a thing of the past.

## Ethereum Merge Risks

•	Technical challenges
Critics of Ethereum believe the network is taking a huge gamble switching from Proof of Work to Proof of Stake while in operation. There could be many unforeseen bugs with the new blockchain, which puts at risk $183 billion worth of Ether in circulation. 

Solana is a good example of a Proof-of-Stake blockchain that has suffered several complete outages this year (2022).

Proof of stake is also seen as a fairly new consensus mechanism when compared to proof of work. Proof of work has been around for a while. It has been tried and tested and proven to be highly secure.

## Will the Merge affect Ether Prices?

Different investors predict a different outcome for [Ether prices](/news/article/ethereum-news-now) after the Ethereum Merge. Some investors predict a bull run for the digital coins while others predict a bear run.

Considering the current state of the crypto market and that Ether is down by 60% since the beginning of the year (2022), some investors believe once the merge unlocks locked Ether many holders will sell their coins, resulting in their price depreciation.

However, some investors believe Ether prices might go up after the Merge due to Ethereum’s transition to proof of stake. The proof of stake consensus mechanism will enable Ethereum to attract more users and developers.

## When will the Merge happen?

The Ethereum Merge is expected to happen in September this year (2022). Tim Beiko, an Ethereum developer and prominent figure in the Ethereum Foundation, put Sept 19th as the tentative date. The Merge timeline is, however, not final.

The Ethereum Merge date announcement saw Ether prices go up considerably to $1,600, which is a good sign for those who believe the Merge will positively affect Ether prices.

## Bottom line

The Ethereum Merge is a big deal in the crypto space. If it's a success then there are plenty of benefits to look forward to from the Ethereum network and a few risks worth considering.

Considering the Ethereum Merge is happening when the crypto industry is experiencing a downturn, there is a lot of uncertainty about how the market may react. Some investors predict a positive outcome while some are not so sure. Do your research.






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