(Newswire.net — January 5, 2023) — The crypto markets have been experiencing some massive turbulence lately. Since the collapse of the crypto exchange FTX, there has been some pressing talk about regulating crypto assets and exchanges. This caused prices to fall short of expectations. Whether it’s ETH to BTC, or SAND to AXS — all crypto pairs suffered.
Despite the bear market, some projects like Solana and Polygon are still building a huge following. Both have provided users and developers with solid advancements in scalability and usability.
But which one is the better investment between SOL and MATIC? We will answer this question in this article by providing you with a full rundown of their fundamentals and differences.
Blockchain Comparison
Solana is a highly scalable blockchain that achieves one of the fastest throughputs in the industry. It is dubbed by many as the fastest blockchain available. It received immense praise in the smart contract niche for providing a near-perfect platform for dApps.
Due to these advantages, its ecosystem has grown exponentially. User-focused dApps cover different niches such as DeFi, NFTs, and even blockchain games.
Polygon, on the other hand, started its journey as a sidechain to Ethereum and a layer 2 solution to the #1 smart contract platform in the world. Its initial goal is to make the Ethereum blockchain more scalable. It does this by providing app-specific sidechains, where transactions can be rolled up using various mechanisms.
This network acts as a bridge for Ethereum. It allows it to interconnect different dApps, making them much more cost-effective to use than on the main chain. With more than 37,000 dApps using the platform to scale their performance, it’s clear that Polygon has encountered a resounding success.
Moreover, the Polygon core devs have been working towards releasing multiple scaling solutions. Those have different focus points: privacy (Nightfall) and ZK-rollups (Miden and Zero).
And finally, their Supernets project should act as a sort of internet of blockchains. Developers will be able to create interconnected blockchains sharing Polygon’s security and scaling solutions.
Different Consensus Mechanisms
Solana is entirely focused on being the fastest chain around. To achieve this, the chain uses a hybrid consensus mechanism of Proof of History and Proof of Stake. This protocol compares different time events to achieve block finality at a record time, outperforming the classic PoS networks.
However, this speed has come at a price, as the network has experienced a few severe outages in the past year. Validators had to stop creating blocks so that bugs and hacker attacks could be prevented. This raised concerns about centralization. The main token used is SOL, which serves as a gas token for the chain, as well as a governance asset for holders.
Polygon, on the other hand, uses a run-of-the-mill PoS consensus, where users stake MATIC tokens to be able to validate blocks on the chain. And while the chain might be slower than Solana, it still executes a huge number of transactions.
Additionally, Polygon introduces multiple scaling solutions for side chains that are expected to become the norm in the following years. While the tech behind ZK-Rollups is in its infancy, the Polygon team seems to be one of the few to have made significant advancements in this niche.
Solana vs Polygon: Scalability
Solana has proven that its PoH+PoS hybrid consensus manages one of the best scalability solutions available in blockchain technology today. That said, this speed has come at a cost to its security at times, which some might find concerning.
Polygon provides decent scalability by industry standards. It will eventually be enhanced through its sidechain capability. Through Supernets, developers are able to launch app-specific chains that will roll up their transactions. This provides true interoperability and linear scalability.
The Best Investor Choice
So which one is better? Should you swap SOL to MATIC or the other way around? Well, it depends on what you are looking for in a blockchain project. If you are searching for the fastest protocol, Solana is the winner. However, if you are interested in blockchain interoperability with Ethereum, then Polygon is a clear choice.
All in all, both projects provide sound benefits and it might be a good idea to reserve a space for each one of them in your portfolio.