Blockchain development has never been bigger and faster than it is today. With multiple massive trends dominating the crypto industry right now — including DeFi, NFTs, metaverse, and more — finding a good development platform is crucial.
Whether you are interested in developing a project yourself or selecting the best platform to try out other projects and dApps built upon it, you want it to be the best one possible, with the great diversity of projects. Solana can definitely offer that, but it would be unfair to say that it is the only one out there that has a great offering.
With that said, today, we are interested in looking into Solana alternatives, and we came up with 6 different chains for you to consider.
1. Ethereum
The first on our list is Ethereum, which is an obvious choice when it comes to development platforms. As the oldest blockchain-based development platform in the world, Ethereum is the parent figure to all others, and also the most diverse one.
It is no secret that Ethereum struggles technologically, however. In fact, its lack of scalability and high gas fees are what drove people to blockchains like Solana and others on this list in the first place. However, it is also worth remembering that Ethereum still leads in terms of dApps, existing projects of all sorts, as well as other trends. Plus, Ethereum did not give up on developing its system and improving it.
It is still working on fully implementing Ethereum 2.0, and it is expected that, once ETH 2.0 finally sees full launch, the project might once again become a competitive development platform. Whether or not that can actually happen still remains to be seen, but right now, it is definitely still too early to say that Ethereum is out of the game.
To learn more about this token visit our Investing in Ethereum guide.
2. Binance Smart Chain
In the second place we have Binance Smart Chain. Developed by Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange according to trading volume, BSC is Binance’s second blockchain, running alongside the original Binance Chain. However, Binance Chain was built to support Binance’s BNB transactions, and not for developing dApps, metaverse projects, and alike. Binance actually launched BSC when it realized the potential of DeFi, but just like Ethereum itself, BSC became a multi-purpose development platform that does not discriminate against crypto trends.
Binance realized that it needs its own version of Ethereum, but better in terms of speed, scalability, and the TPS count. So, it created Binance Smart Chain, which truly does exceed Ethereum in all of its technical capabilities. However, it still doesn’t have Ethereum’s reputation and brand, nor the equal amount of projects and content that Ethereum has to offer.
But, like Solana, BSC is now fighting to become the go-to development platform, and thanks to the fact that it is backed by Binance itself, it might actually have an advantage over other similar projects.
To learn more about this token visit our Investing in Binance Coin guide.
3. Polkadot
Next on the list is Polkadot. This is a project that created its own way of dealing with issues like scalability and speed, by introducing parallel chains. The so-called parachains run alongside Polkadot’s main chain, and they are capable of taking over the portion of the work that the network has to deal with.
However, they also have another ability which is what makes this project the key for solving a much larger issue in crypto, which is interoperability. Through its parachains, Polkadot can connect its own network to other blockchains in the crypto industry, and use them for the transfer of data and money.
Essentially, parachains can be used to build a network of multiple projects, with Polkadot in the center of it. All of this is still in very early stages, of course, and it does not mean that Polkadot will be the project to bring forth Web 3.0. However, Polkadot did point out a method of doing it that could work. Whether it will end up being the one to do it, or if some other project uses the same principle — remains to be seen. For the time being, however, Polkadot has extremely important use cases, and it should not be ignored.
To learn more about this token visit our Investing in Polkadot guide.
4. Cardano
In the fourth spot, we have Cardano. Now, Cardano is a project that has been in development for years, and while it did meet every single one of its roadmap goals exactly when it was expected, its development still progressed slowly and steadily. The project’s developers have set up a massive task, and doing it quickly would only end up in a disaster, so the project had no choice but to do things steadily, but properly.
Cardano’s development was split into five Eras, of which only two have been completed so far. The second one, the so-called Shelley Era, was only completed a few months ago, in October 2021. However, its completion marked the arrival of smart contracts to Cardano’s platform, and that was a massive move for the project. Suddenly, Cardano and its native coin, ADA, exploded, with developers coming from all over the crypto industry to test out its superior systems, low transaction fees, fast development platform, and other benefits.
It was only a few days before the first DEX emerged on the project, and Cardano’s development did not stop ever since. But, with that said, Cardano has still not completed even half of its development, and its roadmap shows just how innovative the project was years ago, when it first created it. It predicted many of the upcoming trends, and from what we have seen so far, it would not be surprising if it pull off much better features and benefits than its competitors.
To learn more about this token visit our Investing in Cardano guide.
5. Algorand
Nearing the end of the list, we have Algorand. Algorand is a decentralized blockchain-based network that is self-sustaining, and it was created to support a wide range of applications. It has very secure, scalable, and efficient systems — all three of which are considered to be critical properties for effective applications in the real world.
The project is neither young nor particularly old, launching its mainnet back in June 2019. However, since December 2020, it was capable of handling almost a million transactions per day.
Algorand was created to increase the speed of transaction processing, and in doing so, to improve the efficiency of the blockchain. Like many other similar projects, it was created in response to overly slow blockchains such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. It was also meant to offer a more energy-efficient and eco-friendly solution than BTC, and we feel confident in saying that the project was a success.
To learn more about this token visit our Investing in Algorand guide.
6. Elrond
Finally, the last one on the list is Elrond. This is a protocol that aims to offer extremely fast transaction speeds through sharding. Elrond views itself as a technology ecosystem for the new internet, including DeFi, fintech, and IoT. Its platform can allegedly handle 15,000 transactions per second, which definitely puts it among the fastest ones out there. Not to mention that it boasts six-second latency and a transaction cost of only $0.001.
It features smart contracts, which means that it can also be used for the development of DeFi protocols, NFTs, dApps, metaverses, DEXes, altcoins, and alike.
And, it also came with a very rewarding system for its developers, wishing to encourage them to come to its platform and create new projects on Elrond, rather than elsewhere. To those who do it, it is willing to grant 30% of the smart contract fees as royalties.
To learn more about this token visit our Investing in Elrond guide.
Conclusion
As you can see, the crypto industry is rich with development platforms that are scalable, cheap to use, and rich with all kinds of projects. Ethereum may be a bit problematic if we judge it by those parameters alone, but it is worth remembering that this is the original development platform, and also the place that gave birth to some of the most iconic projects, as well as every single trend that we had so far. Once Ethereum 2.0 comes out in full, the community will, hopefully, be able to continue working on it in better conditions.
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