Solana

How does its consensus work?

The network is secured by validators with SOL at stake (Proof of Stake). For years it has combined that mechanism with Proof of History, a cryptographic clock that proves the order of events, and with TowerBFT, its consensus protocol since genesis. Alpenglow, Solana's new consensus, was scheduled to activate on mainnet on October 21, 2026 (epoch 1064): it replaces TowerBFT, and with it Proof of History no longer paces block production. The official upgrade page calls it a breaking change. Since October 9, 2026 each slot lasts 200 ms (previously 400 ms); a slot is not finality, and the two times should not be confused.

What are programs and accounts?

On Solana all state lives in accounts, inside a key-value store whose key is a 32-byte address. Programs store no data of their own: they read and write the accounts passed to them in each instruction. They compile to sBPF bytecode and are written with Anchor, Pinocchio or native Rust; Anchor is the reference development framework. A program can be upgraded while its upgrade authority exists; if that authority is revoked, it becomes immutable.

How do tokens work: SPL and Token-2022?

Creating a token does not require a new contract: you create a mint account of the token program that is already deployed. There are two official token programs, the original one and Token Extensions (Token-2022), which adds optional features. For tokenized securities, these stand out:

• Transfer Hook: runs a custom program on every transfer, for example to enforce an allowlist of recipients.
• Default Account State: new accounts start frozen until the issuer thaws them.
• Permanent Delegate: an authority that can transfer or burn from any account, and that holders cannot revoke.
• Confidential Balances: hides amounts and balances, but for now not addresses.

How is it different from Ethereum and the EVM?

Solana does not run the EVM. On Ethereum the contract stores its own state; on Solana it does not. There is no msg.sender either: every authority must sign or be a validated program derived address (PDA). Signatures use Ed25519, not secp256k1, so EVM keys do not work directly. A Solidity contract cannot be deployed as is: the official guide recommends a full rewrite in Rust for most projects, and Neon EVM, which allowed Solidity on Solana, ended development and support on October 1, 2026.

What is SOL, the native token, for?

It pays fees and is staked to secure the network. The base fee is 5,000 lamports per signature (one lamport is 0.000000001 SOL): half is burned and half goes to the validator. The priority fee is optional and goes entirely to the validator. Storing data also requires a refundable deposit proportional to the account's size.

Who uses it for real-world assets, and what are the risks?

Cases with official announcements include BlackRock and Securitize (a BUIDL share class, March 2025), the Galaxy commercial paper arranged by J.P. Morgan (December 2025) and Circle (EURC, December 2023). The network has documented risks: outages, the latest in February 2024, and stake concentrated in a few validators. In the EU, MiCA and Spain's Law 6/2023 apply to the asset, not to the network.

Official sources: accounts (solana.com); Alpenglow (solana.com); migrating from Ethereum (solana.com).

Facts verified as of October 16, 2026. At Unknown Gravity we offer Solana development for companies and issuers of real-world assets: Rust programs, tokens with Token Extensions and security audits. We are not an investment adviser.