Anatoly Yakovenko created Solana in 2017 to address scalability issues in existing Blockchain platforms. Solana is a high-performing, permissionless Blockchain platform that processes thousands of transactions per second with a significantly lower block time than Ethereum.
Over the past few years, Solana has become one of the fastest Blockchain platforms, capable of global adoption. Statista reports that during the summer of 2021, Solana’s market capitalization increased by 400%. It is now considered a direct competitor to Ethereum and can enable more efficient decentralized application development.
While the primary focus of this blog post is to educate businesses about the Solana smart contract development process, it’s essential to understand the benefits of deploying smart contracts on the platform.
Advantages of Developing Smart Contracts on Solana
Here are some improved statements outlining the benefits of deploying smart contracts on Solana:
- Fast Transaction Processing
Solana’s smart contract development offers high-speed transaction processing. Compared to Ethereum, which handles only 15-45 transactions per second, Solana can process 50,000 transactions per second and can ramp up to 70,000 transactions per second. This capability makes Solana one of the fastest blockchain platforms available today.
- Low Transaction Costs
Users pay a gas fee to process transactions on a blockchain platform, and the cost varies depending on the platform. Solana charges an average of $0.000025 per transaction, which is significantly lower than other blockchain platforms.
- Minimal Network Congestion
Unlike other blockchain platforms, Solana does not have a mempool where processed transactions wait to be accepted by the blockchain. Transactions are processed immediately as soon as they enter the blockchain, saving a lot of time and reducing network congestion.
- Environmentally Friendly
Solana is an eco-friendly blockchain platform for creating smart contracts because it combines PoH (Proof-of-History) and PoS (Proof-of-Stake) consensus mechanisms. The PoS consensus algorithm ensures that the blockchain is environmentally friendly, while the PoH consensus algorithm guarantees greater efficiency and a higher throughput rate.
- Enhanced Transparency and Security
Solana’s smart contract development primarily uses RUST, a multi-paradigm, general-purpose programming language designed for performance and safety, particularly safe concurrency. Additionally, Solana uses the BFT (Byzantine Fault Tolerance) algorithm, which ensures greater transparency and security.
- Improved Scalability:
Solana’s scalability is driven by its horizontal scaling method. The Cloudbreak system ensures that the platform remains scalable, and tokens and transactions that occur on top of the platform do not face throughput issues.
Solana Smart Contract Architecture
Solana offers two distinct development workflows: Smart contract development and dApp development. Smart contracts, also known as programs, are created using programming languages such as Rust, C, and C++. These programs are deployed on-chain and executed using the Solana runtime feature.
Solana’s smart contract model differs significantly from traditional EVM-based blockchains. In conventional blockchains, the code and state are combined into a single contract, whereas in Solana, smart contracts are stateless and only contain program logic.
When smart contracts are deployed on Solana, external accounts can interact with the program to store data related to program interaction. This logical separation of contract code and state sets Solana smart contract development apart from EVM-enabled blockchains.
To improve interaction with dApps, Solana also provides a Command Line Interface (CLI) and JSON RPC API. Existing SDKs can be used by dApps to interact with the blockchain and Solana programs.
An Overview of Solana Smart Contract Development Process
Developing Solana smart contracts can be a challenging process for cryptopreneurs, requiring consideration of several critical factors. To get started with Solana smart contract development, it is recommended to follow these steps:
Set up Solana Development Environment
Setting up the Solana development environment can be a challenge for first-time users, particularly in compiling and running smart contract code on Windows. To simplify this process, it is recommended to install Anchor, a framework designed explicitly for Solana’s sea-level runtime that comes with convenient developer tools.
Create a Localnet Cluster:
After installing the Anchor framework, the next step is to create a localnet cluster, a set of validators that work together to maintain the integrity of the ledger and serve client transactions. Solana programs cannot run without a cluster. Three types of clusters are used to run the Solana program: Devnet, Testnet, and Mainnet.
Write a Program
Once you have set up Anchor and a localnet cluster, it’s time to write a Solana program. Users can write a new program using Anchor’s CLI (Command Line Interface) and can also edit or update the program using the same interface.
Audit and Deploy the Program
Writing a programmatic test is the next step to identify any bugs or errors in the code. Anchor allows users to test a program using integration tests in a programming language other than Rust to detect syntax-related bugs. It is also recommended to audit the program to identify any existing or potential errors, security flaws, and compilation issues. After performing the programmatic test and auditing, the smart contract can be deployed on Solana.
Conclusion
If you’re a cryptopreneur looking to deploy smart contracts on Solana, it’s recommended that you contact a seasoned smart contract development firm like RisingMax Inc, a leading Solana blockchain development company in USA. As a top Solana development company, RisingMax Inc combines its blockchain expertise with experience to build secure and highly scalable Solana development solutions. Along with Solana smart contract development. We also offer services such as Solana wallet development, Solana NFT development, Solana token development, Solana DeFi development, Solana exchange development, and more.
