Solana Price

What Is Solana?

Solana is a blockchain built for speed and low fees. Like Ethereum, it runs smart contracts, which are programs that execute on their own when set conditions are met, but it was designed from the start to process many transactions at once on a single chain. SOL is the network's native coin, used to pay fees and to stake.

Anatoly Yakovenko laid out the core idea in a 2017 white paper and co-founded Solana Labs with Raj Gokal. The network's main chain went live in a beta version in March 2020. Today the Solana Foundation, a Swiss nonprofit, funds the ecosystem, while independent teams, including Anza and Jump Crypto, build the validator software that runs it.

How Solana Works

Solana runs on proof of stake. Validators lock up SOL, take turns producing blocks and vote on which blocks are final. SOL holders who don't run a validator can delegate their coins to one and share in the rewards.

The original design added proof of history, a built-in clock that time-stamps transactions so validators can agree on their order faster. In October 2026, the network switched to a new consensus system called Alpenglow. Anza, its developer, says Alpenglow retires both the older voting system, Tower BFT, and proof of history, with a target of about 150 milliseconds to finalize a block, down from about 12.8 seconds.

The first piece, Votor, went live at the start of epoch 1064 on October 21, 2026, according to the Solana Foundation. The second piece, Rotor, hasn't launched yet.

SOL has no maximum supply. New coins go to stakers through inflation that started at 8% a year and falls by 15% each year toward a 1.5% floor, under the Solana docs.

In August 2026, validators approved a proposal to double that yearly decline to 30%. The change, known as SIMD-0550, takes effect through a feature gate at the start of an epoch, and it hadn't been activated on the network as of early November 2026, so inflation was still falling at the old 15% pace. Half of each transaction's base fee is burned. Our piece on proof of work vs. proof of stake vs. proof of history shows how these designs differ.

What People Use It For

Token trading drives much of Solana's activity. Decentralized exchanges on the network let people swap tokens for fractions of a cent in fees, and launch platforms such as Pump.fun have made Solana a hub for memecoins, tokens with no business behind them that trade on hype. Stablecoin transfers, NFTs and payment apps run on it too.

Holders also stake SOL to earn rewards, through an exchange or a wallet that supports delegation. US investors have also been able to buy spot Solana ETFs since late October 2025. Bitwise's BSOL launched first, staking the SOL it holds, and funds from Grayscale and Fidelity followed within weeks.

Risks To Know

Solana's outage record is the main risk unique to this coin. The network has stopped producing blocks several times, each time needing validator operators to coordinate a restart. In September 2021, bot traffic during a token launch knocked it offline for about 17 hours. A flood of NFT minting bots caused a halt of about seven hours in April 2022, and a malfunctioning validator's oversized block led to a stall of nearly 19 hours in February 2023.

The most recent full outage came in February 2024, when a software bug froze the chain for nearly five hours because almost every validator ran the same client. A second client, Jump Crypto's Firedancer, now runs on mainnet to reduce that risk. Validators running Firedancer held about 16% of active stake in early November 2026, based on Cult of Money's count of Solana's public validator data. The Solana Foundation said in September 2026 that the network had not had a full outage since February 2024, Analytics Insight reported.

The chain came close on August 12, 2026. A faulty route at the hosting provider TeraSwitch cut off its data centers in Europe and Asia until service returned at about 04:16 UTC, according to TeraSwitch's incident report. Validators holding 28.83% of staked SOL went offline, short of the roughly 33% that would have stopped Solana from finalizing transactions, staking provider Marinade reported, according to Decrypt.

Memecoin trading on Solana carries heavy scam and rug pull risk, and ongoing inflation dilutes holders who don't stake.

How To Buy Solana

SOL is listed on every major US crypto exchange, including Coinbase, Kraken, Gemini, Bitstamp, Binance.US, Crypto.com and OKX. Bitstamp's US service stops taking new deposits and purchases on Feb. 1, 2027. Bitget, MEXC and Gate sell it internationally. The table below compares how much SOL each exchange delivers for the same purchase after fees and spreads.

Spot Solana ETFs trade at regular brokerages. If you buy the coin and plan to stake it or use Solana apps, you'll need a wallet that supports the network. Our roundup of the best Solana wallets compares them.

Solana And Your Taxes

The IRS treats SOL as property, so selling or swapping it, including each memecoin trade, can trigger a capital gain or loss. Staking rewards count as ordinary income once you control them, under Revenue Ruling 2023-14, and airdropped tokens are income when you receive them, according to the IRS virtual currency FAQ. Spot Solana ETFs can be held in an IRA. Read more on how taxes on crypto work.

FAQ

Is Solana A Good Investment?

That depends on your risk tolerance and what you expect the network to do. Factors to weigh include Solana's outage history, how much of its activity comes from memecoin trading, competition from Ethereum and its layer 2 networks, and ongoing inflation. SOL's price has swung sharply in past downturns, so consider how a large drop would affect your other goals.

What Is The Max Supply Of Solana?

Solana has no max supply. New SOL is created each year through inflation that pays staking rewards, and that rate is set to keep falling until it reaches a long-term floor of 1.5% a year. Half of each transaction's base fee is burned, which offsets a small part of new issuance. The live supply figure on this page updates daily.

Who Created Solana?

Anatoly Yakovenko created Solana after publishing a white paper on proof of history in 2017. He co-founded Solana Labs with Raj Gokal, and the network launched its main chain in beta in March 2020. Development now involves several independent teams, including Anza, which spun out of Solana Labs, and Jump Crypto, which builds the Firedancer validator client.

Can I Buy Solana In An IRA?

Yes. Spot Solana ETFs from Bitwise, Grayscale, Fidelity and others trade on US stock exchanges, so a brokerage IRA can hold them like any other fund. Some of these ETFs stake their SOL and pass the rewards to shareholders, minus a fee. Our breakdown of how to invest in crypto in your IRA or 401k covers the options.

Where Can I Buy Solana In The US?

Coinbase, Kraken, Gemini, Bitstamp, Binance.US, Crypto.com and OKX all sell SOL to US customers. Spot Solana ETFs are available through most brokerages. The cost table on this page shows what you'd actually receive at each exchange for the same amount of money, since fees and spreads differ.

Has Solana Ever Gone Down?

Yes. Solana's main chain has halted several times, including outages of about 17 hours in September 2021, about seven hours in April 2022, nearly 19 hours in February 2023 and nearly five hours in February 2024. Funds weren't lost in these events, but no one could send transactions until validators restarted the network. The Solana status page posts live incidents.