Activity on the Solana network surpassed Ethereum long ago
A number of news outlets misinterpreted the chart provided by the Nansen analytical agency when they published stories that Solana had overtaken the Ethereum network in terms of the number of transactions in Q2 2022. Here's what the old chart looked like:
At first glance, it may seem like Solana surpassed Ethereum in June 2022. However, we should first look at the scale, which is broken down in increments of 100,000 for Ethereum (on the left) but increments of 5 million for Solana (on the right). Apparently, Nansen decided to avoid the risk of the information being misinterpreted, and the chart now looks like this:
In terms of the number of transactions, Solana surpassed Ethereum back in August 2020, which is natural given the huge difference between them in terms of throughput. The maximum throughput for Ethereum is 20 transactions per second (TPS), while Solana easily boasts over 3000 TPS.
It's also worth noting that Ethereum's transition to a proof-of-stake protocol had practically no effect on the network's speed. It will only achieve scaling in subsequent updates. That's why, from a practical point of view, Ethereum's Merge didn't yield any positive results. Due to the difference in fees, using Ethereum costs users a total of 500 times more than Solana.
Solana was once dubbed the 'Ethereum killer' due to its speed and decentralisation. The network would already be in a higher position in the overall standings if it weren't for regular shutdowns due to failures caused by internal problems or DDoS attacks. Its low fees turned out to be a double-edged sword.
Since Ethereum remains the most stable blockchain supported by smart contracts, a number of projects have already expressed support for it in the future. Yuga Labs, which is responsible for the popular collection of Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs, said Ethereum is the only network where it will release its future works.
However, newer projects and artists are increasingly choosing Solana. Solana set a new record in September for the number of weekly NFT transactions, exceeding 842,000.
StormGain Analytics Team
(cryptocurrency trading, exchange and storage platform)