INTRODUCTION

What is Solana?

Solana is a highly functional open source project that implements a new, permissionless and high-speed layer-1 blockchain.

Created in 2017 by Anatoly Yakovenko, a former executive at Qualcomm, Solana aims to scale throughput beyond what is typically achieved by popular blockchains while keeping costs low. Solana implements an innovative hybrid consensus model that combines a unique proof-of-history (PoH) algorithm with the lightning-fast synchronization engine, which is a version of proof-of-stake (PoS). Because of this, the Solana network can theoretically process over 710,000 transactions per second (TPS) without any scaling solutions needed.

Solana’s third-generation blockchain architecture is designed to facilitate smart contracts and decentralized application (DApp) creation. The project supports an array of decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms as well as nonfungible token (NFT) marketplaces.

Solana blockchain was rolled out during the 2017 initial coin offering (ICO) boom. The project’s internal testnet was released in 2018, followed by multiple testnet phases leading to the eventual official launch of the main network in 2020.

What makes Solana unique?

Solana’s ambitious design aims to solve the blockchain trilemma, a concept proposed by Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin, in its unique way. This trilemma describes a set of three major challenges that developers face when building blockchains: decentralization, security and scalability.

It is widely believed that blockchains are built in such a way that forces developers to sacrifice one of the aspects in favor of the other two, as they can only provide two of the three benefits at any given time.

The Solana blockchain platform has proposed a hybrid consensus mechanism that compromises on decentralization to maximize speed. The innovative combination of PoS and PoH makes Solana a unique project in the blockchain industry.

Generally, blockchains have greater scalability, depending on the number of transactions per second they can support, the more and better they scale. In decentralized blockchains, however, time discrepancies and higher throughput slow them down, meaning that more nodes verifying transactions and timestamps take more time.

In a nutshell, Solana’s design solves this problem by having one leader node chosen based on the PoS mechanism that sequences messages between nodes. Thus, the Solana network benefits, reducing workload that results in increased throughput even without a centralized and exact time source.

Also, Solana creates a chain of transactions by hashing the output of one transaction and using it as the input of the next transaction. This history of transactions gives a name to Solana’s main consensus mechanism: PoH, a concept that allows for greater scalability of the protocol which, in turn, boosts usability.

How does Solana work?

The core component of the Solana protocol is proof-of-history, a sequence of computations that provides a digital record that confirms that an event has occurred on the network at any point in time. It can be presented as a cryptographic clock that gives a timestamp to every transaction on the network, along with a data structure that can be a simple addition of it.

PoH relies on PoS using the Tower Byzantine fault tolerance (BFT) algorithm, an optimized version of the practical Byzantine fault tolerance (pBFT) protocol. Solana uses it to reach a consensus. The Tower BFT keeps the network secure and running and acts as an additional tool to validate transactions.

Moreover, PoH can be considered as a high-frequency Verifiable Delay Function (VDF), a triple function (setup, evaluation, verification) to produce unique and reliable output. VDF maintains order in the network by proving that block producers have waited enough time for the network to move forward.

Solana uses a 256-bit secure hash algorithm (SHA-256), a set of proprietary cryptographic functions that output a 256-bit value. The network periodically samples the number and SHA-256 hashes, providing real-time data according to the set of hashes included on central processing units.

Solana validators can use this sequence of hashes to record a specific piece of data that was created prior to the generation of a specific hash index. The timestamp for transactions is created after this particular piece of data is inserted. To achieve claimed huge numbers of TPS and block creation time, all nodes on the network must have cryptographic clocks to keep track of events rather than waiting for other validators to verify transactions.

What are NFTs?

NFTs are designed as way for digital files to be secured in a way that ensure ownership and create scarcity. Like physical art an NFT can be sold but the artist can retain the copyright, or they can offer it to the buyer, or decide the on a percentage of secondary sales an owner can have.

What are NFTs used for?

Essentially, NFTs can represent any form of digital file, whether that's a jpeg of a piece of art, a video, or even real estate. Turning these files into 'tokens' and securing them on a blockchain make buying, selling and trading these files efficient and reduce fraud.

SOLANART

The first marketplace on Solana to buy, trade and sell non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Chat on chain with buyers/sellers, launch a project with our launchpad or just explore.

Solanart is the first NFT marketplace on Solana. The only zero-fee NFT marketplace of Solana. Simply said, it's a marketplace where artists can freely list their collections, and anyone may purchase or sell NFTs made in Solana. Opensea, which runs on the same open marketplace model as Solanart, is the most direct comparison.

OPENSEA

The world's first and largest digital marketplace for crypto collectibles and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Buy, sell, and discover exclusive digital

items.

OpenSea is a game-changing decentralized marketplace for buying and selling NFTs. If you’re wondering, NFTs stands for Non-Fungible Tokens, which are unique, collectible digital things like in-game assets, avatars, trading cards, and art. \n

In August 2021 alone, OpenSea recorded well over $3.5 billion in NFT trading volume. Considering it posted just $21 million in volume during all of 2020, it’s safe to say the 12,000% trading activity rise firmly signals success. \n

Investors like Mark Cuban, Kevin Durant, Ashton Kutcher, and crypto powerhouse a16z have helped push OpenSea’s valuation to over $1 billion, giving the young NFT platform unicorn status seemingly overnight. \n

NFT collectors, artists, investors, and traders all rate OpenSea highly, but if you’re new to the platform, it’s pretty confusing. This beginner’s guide to OpenSea gives you an easy explanation of NFTs, what OpenSea is + how to use it, along with some of the best NFTs in the marketplace. \n

Methodology

In this dashboard I am going to compare the two game changing marketplace - SOLANART & OPENSEA I have used solana.core.dim_nft_metadata and solana.core.fact_nft_sales tables for this dashboard.solana.core.fact_nft_sales table are used to verify NFT sales data I used the solana.core.fact_nft_sales table. to access NFT collection data I used the solana.core.dim_nft_metadatatable.

I have also used UNION ALL as SQL in many places

ANALYSIS

Total volume on Opensea (17K) is much higher than that of Solanart (14.26K) . Daily unique buyers are more in Opensea than in Solanart .On 9th october there is a sudden change in the number of buyers with Opensea gaining position .Cumulative buyers are more in Opensea than on Solanart . Cumulative volume growth is higher in Opensea than in Solanart showing more transactions in Opensea . number of NFT sales are high on Solanart than in Opensea which indicates that there are more buying activities on Opensea.

ANALYSIS

TOP 10 COLLECTION ON SOLANART ARE:-

DEGEN APES WITH 2,158,948.736 SOL IN FIRST PLACE
AURORY WITH 1,195,742.5719 SOL IN SECOND PLACE
SOLPUNKS WITH 321,546.764 SOL IN THIRD PLACE
GALACTIC GECKOS WITH 297,873.5613 SOL IN FOURTH PLACE
BOLD BADGES WITH 220,888.108 SOL IN FIFTH PLACE

Followed by MEERKAT MILLIONAIRES, THUG BIRDZ, INFINITY LABS, SOLLAMAS, & SOLBEARS

TOP 10 TRANSACTIONS ON SOLANART ARE:-

BOLD BADGES WITH 18,597 TRANSACTIONS
DERGEN APES WITH 18,344 TRANSACTIONS
SOLSNATCHERS WITH 17,239 TRANSACTIONS
SOLPUNKS WITH 16 663 TRANSACTIONS
GALACHO GECKOS WITH 15, 922TRANSACTIONS

Followed by ETERNAL BEINGS, AURORY,SOLBEARS,RED PANDA SQUAD & FANCY FRENCHIES

MINTS

Total Minting is higher in Solanart than in Opensea . We can observe a significant change in minting on 9th October .

Cumulative mint growth is higher in Opensea

CONCLUSION

SOLANART IS BASED ON SOLANA BLOCKCHAIN and is newer and has fewer features when compared to OPENSEA .

OPENSEA beats SOLANART by a margin when looking at volume traded and mass adoption. In the NFTs universe , Opensea continues to be KING. I has surpassed the $10 billion mark ,since launch , to hit an all time high ,when it comes to lifetime trade volume.

ANALYSIS

TOP 10 COLLECTIONS ON OPENSEA ARE:-

OKAY BEARS WITH 215,117.041 SOL IN FIRST PLACE
TRIPPIN APE TRIBE WITH 17,684.38604 SOL IN SECOND PLACE
ZOONIES WITH 10329.82971 SOL IN THIRD PLACE
PRIMATES WITH 8993.403488 SOL IN FOURTH PLACE
SOLANA MONKEY BUSINESS 8359,3938 SOL IN FIFTH PLACE

Followed by REPTELLIAN RENEGADE LIZARDS , MOUS IN DA HOUS , AURORY, CATALINA WHALE MIXER & GRIM SYNDICATE

TOP 10 TRANSACTIONS ON OPENSEA ARE :-

ZOONIES WITH 3711 TRANSACTIONS
OKAY BEARS WITH 1543 TRANSACTIONS
READY REINDEERS WITH 1530 TRANSACTIONS
TRIPPIN BEARS WITH 1147 TRANSACTIONS
SICKBOY WITH 962 TRANSACTIONS

followed by CADBOARD CITIZEN , OKAY CUBS, MOONBEARS, BUNNIES N HOMIES CLUB & GHOST KIDZ DAO