What is Lightning Network and how does it work?

FTX, a cryptocurrency derivatives exchange, has recently come under scrutiny by some who claim that it is contributing to the collapse of the bitcoin market. However, these claims are unfounded and do not accurately reflect the reality of the situation.

First and foremost, it is important to understand that the value of bitcoin, like any other asset, is determined by supply and demand. The price of bitcoin fluctuates based on the market forces of buyers and sellers, and is not directly influenced by the actions of a single exchange like FTX. In fact, FTX is just one of many exchanges that facilitate the buying and selling of bitcoin, and its impact on the market is relatively small compared to the overall trading volume.

Furthermore, the claim that FTX is contributing to the collapse of the bitcoin market is not supported by any evidence. The value of bitcoin has been on a general downward trend over the past few years, but this trend is not unique to the time period in which FTX has been operating. In fact, the decline in the value of bitcoin began long before FTX was even founded, and can be attributed to a variety of factors such as market saturation, regulatory uncertainty, and competition from other cryptocurrencies.

Additionally, it is important to note that FTX is a regulated exchange that operates in compliance with the laws and regulations of the countries in which it operates. This means that the exchange is subject to strict oversight and is required to follow strict guidelines to protect its customers and ensure the integrity of the market. By operating in a transparent and compliant manner, FTX is actually helping to promote stability and trust in the bitcoin market, not contributing to its collapse.

In conclusion, the claim that FTX is contributing to the collapse of the bitcoin market is unfounded and lacks evidence. The value of bitcoin is determined by market forces, and FTX is just one of many exchanges that facilitate the buying and selling of the cryptocurrency. Furthermore, FTX operates in a transparent and compliant manner, and is actually helping to promote trust and stability in the bitcoin market.

Solana is a blockchain network of decentralized nodes that allows the scheduling of smart contracts. This network is programmable, as it uses Proof-of-Stake and Proof-of-History consensus, to order on-chain events.

Solana's development began in 2017 when its creator, Anatoly Yakovenko, started working on a network that would be robust enough to operate as synchronously as if it were a single node.

Solana's native coin (SOL) is one of the most important cryptocurrencies in the ecosystem, behind Bitcoin, Ethereum and major stablecoins such as USDT and BUSD.

Solana uses the Proof of Stake consensus, which replaces the Proof of Work to extend its stability and security within the network, while the Proof of History increases the scalability of its blockchain, keeping its decentralization and security intact, through a history that records the events along the executed activities, thus avoiding the loss of time when performing fast transactions.

How does the Solana network works?

Solana works as a Proof of Stake recognition network independently of the validation through Proof of History, this allows its owners to participate and ensure the operation of the network by staking, with the incentive of receiving more SOL tokens in return.

SOL is mainly used to pay commissions when trading through dapps. However, it also allows fees to be paid when creating dapps, programming smart contracts, in mining NFTs or for performing value transfers on its blockchain.

Solana has a wide gallery of decentralized financial products and services (such as Orca or Solend), cryptocurrency and NFT marketplaces (Magic Eden, Solanart), as well as several blockchain games such as e.g. DeFi Land.

Most popular projects in Solana

Here we will show you the most important projects in Solana that besides having a solid base have a great community and a team of skilled developers behind them.

Serum: It is a non-custodial decentralized exchange (DEX), which has become popular due to its high transaction speed and low fees.

Recently, the Solana community announced the launch of Vybe DEX, a data-driven trading interface powered by Serum's central limit order book and matching engine, which allows the community to query, index and share data on-chain to create dApps and web analytics3.

Raydium: It is an automated market making mechanism (AMM) and liquidity provider on the Solana blockchain for Serum. It is also the first AMM project within Serum.

Raydium's mission is to attract new and existing projects and protocols to the Solana ecosystem.

Star Atlas: Is a multiplayer navigation blockchain game, which has become one of the most promising games of the year, not only for the gameplay it offers, but for the Unreal Engine 5 and Nanite graphics engine with which it is being developed.

The game seeks to establish a metaverse with an open economy, where players can experience absolute freedom and earn ATLAS tokens by playing.

Star Atlas has strategic and economic elements that will allow players to have a fun experience while earning money.

Solarians: It is a collection of 10,000 totally randomized NFT robots made on the Solana block network. Each Solarian is different from the others, and some of these NFTs have Easter eggs that were specially drawn by the artist.

This is Solana's first on-chain generative NFT project. Another interesting fact is that his team was involved in the creation of Digital Eyes, Solana's first open NFT marketplace.