The core Solana innovation is Proof of History (POH), a globally-available, permissionless source of time in the network that works before consensus. POH is not a consensus protocol or anti-Sybil mechanism. Rather, POH is a solution to the clock problem.
Solana is a decentralized protocol for building dApps with a reported throughput of 65,000 transactions per second (TPS) thanks to its distributed computing system.
Unlike most protocols that run with the Proof of Stake (PoS) or Proof of Work (PoW) mechanism, Solana uses the Proof of History (PoH) – a new cryptographic mechanism that amplifies scalability while maintaining network security.
Solana is among the few layer-one solutions capable of supporting thousands of transactions per second without having to implement second layers or off-chains.
Proof of History (PoH) is Solana’s consensus mechanism. It is a sequence of computations that provides a digital record to prove that an event occurred on the network at any given time.
Think about it as a cryptographic clock that gives a timestamp to every transaction in the network along with the data structure, which can be a simple append of data.
PoH relies on Proof of Stake, using the Tower BFT algorithm for consensus, which functions like an additional tool to verify transactions. At its core, PoH is a high-frequency Verifiable Delay Function (VDF).
For more detailed information, check out What is Solana? Guide for Beginners at CryptoPotato
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