The Solana Foundation has announced that a total of 489 million SOL tokens will be released in circulation. At the moment, about 260 million of these have already entered the market. The SOL token distribution is as follows: 16.23% went towards an initial seed sale, 12.92% of tokens were dedicated to a founding sale, 12.79% of SOL coins were distributed among team members and 10.46% of tokens were given to the Solana Foundation. The remaining tokens were already released for public and private sales or are still to be released to the market. Solana price during the initial seed sale, held on April 5, 2018, was $0.04. Given the recent ATH, that represents an impressive 5400X [return on investment](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/roi) (ROI).

One of the essential innovations Solana brings to the table is the proof-of-history (PoH) consensus developed by Anatoly Yakovenko. This concept allows for greater scalability of the protocol, which in turn boosts usability. Solana is known in the cryptocurrency space because of the incredibly short processing times the blockchain offers. Solana’s hybrid protocol allows for significantly decreased validation times for both transaction and smart contract execution. With lightning-fast processing times, Solana has attracted a lot of institutional interest as well. The Solana protocol is intended to serve both small-time users and enterprise customers alike. One of Solana’s main promises to customers is that they will not be surprised by increased fees and taxes. The protocol is designed in such a way as to have low transaction costs while still guaranteeing scalability and fast processing. Combined with the longstanding professional expertise creators Anatoly Yakovenko and Greg Fitzgerald bring to the project, Solana is ranked number 7 in the CoinMarketCap [ranking](https://coinmarketcap.com/) as of September 2021. This came on the back of an impressive bull run, where Solana price gained over 700% since mid-July 2021. The launch of the Degenerate Ape [NFT collection](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/how-to-mint-an-nft) sent SOL price to an [all-time high](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/all-time-high) (ATH) above $60, and it has been climbing since, largely due to higher developer activity on the Solana ecosystem, greater institutional interest, growing DeFi ecosystem, and the [rise of the NFTs](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/how-to-protect-your-nfts) and gaming vertical on Solana. Solana price rose to an ATH of $216 on Sept. 9, 2021. Solana has received much praise for its speed and performance, and has even been tipped as a rival that can [compare to Ethereum](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/solana-vs-ethereum-a-detailed-comparison) and challenge the dominant smart contract platform. However, the network has been plagued by repeated [outages](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/solana-fastest-blockchain-in-world-hit-by-attack) that have impaired its price and aspirations to be the "[Visa of crypto](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/solana-can-be-visa-of-crypto-bank-of-america-says)." Furthermore, its [ecosystem](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/what-is-solana-a-guide-to-solana-s-ecosystem-projects) is accused of favoring venture capital investors with unfair tokenomics.

[Anatoly Yakovenko](https://www.linkedin.com/in/anatoly-yakovenko/) is the most important person behind Solana. His professional career started at Qualcomm, where he quickly moved up the ranks and became senior staff engineer manager in 2015. Later on, his professional path shifted, and Yakovenko entered a new position as a software engineer at Dropbox. In 2017, Yakovenko started working on a project which would later materialize as Solana. He teamed up with his Qualcomm colleague [Greg Fitzgerald](https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregoryrfitzgerald/), and they founded a project called Solana Labs. Attracting several more former Qualcomm colleagues in the process, the Solana protocol and SOL token were released to the public in 2020.

Solana is a highly functional open source project that banks on blockchain technology’s permissionless nature to provide decentralized finance ([DeFi](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/defi)) solutions. While the idea and initial work on the project began in 2017, Solana was officially launched in March 2020 by the Solana Foundation with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. To learn more about this project, check out our deep dive of [Solana](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/solana). The Solana protocol is designed to facilitate decentralized app ([DApp](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/decentralized-applications-dapps)) creation. It aims to improve scalability by introducing a proof-of-history (PoH) consensus combined with the underlying proof-of-stake ([PoS](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/proof-of-stake-pos)) consensus of the blockchain. Because of the innovative hybrid consensus model, Solana enjoys interest from small-time traders and institutional traders alike. A significant focus for the Solana Foundation is to make decentralized finance accessible on a larger scale.

The top exchanges for Polkadot (DOT) trading are currently [Binance](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/binance/), [Huobi Global](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/huobi-global/), [OKEx](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/okex/), [Coinbase](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/coinbase-exchange/), [KuCoin](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/kucoin/) and more. You can find others listed on the [Polkadot’s markets page](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/polkadot-new/markets/) on CoinMarketCap. You can now also buy cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum directly by credit card in the fiat currency of your choice. To find out how, [read more here](https://www.binance.com/en/buy-sell-crypto). To check Polkadot price live in the fiat currency of your choice, you can use CoinMarketCap’s converter feature directly on the [Polkadot currency page](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/polkadot-new/). Here are some other articles that you may be interested in: * [What Is a Crypto Faucet?](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/what-is-a-crypto-faucet) * [What Are Crypto Debit Cards?](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/what-are-crypto-debit-cards) * [What Is Web 3.0?](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/what-is-web-3-0) * [What Is Yield Farming?](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/what-is-yield-farming) * [What Is Crypto Lending?](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/what-is-crypto-lending)

The network uses an NPoS (nominated proof-of-stake) mechanism with validators and nominators.Nominators back validators with their tokens. These staked tokens maximize chain security by making it prohibitively expensive to misbehave. Validators are staked on the Relay Chain and confirm transactions coming from the different parachains. This unique validity scheme enables chains to interact with each other securely under the same rules, yet remain independently governed.

Following the [network’s redenomination](https://wiki.polkadot.network/docs/en/redenomination) after a referendum on Polkadot, DOT balances increased by 100, so one old DOT was equivalent to 100 new DOT. This meant that the initial maximum supply of 10 million old DOT in August 2020 became 1 billion new DOT tokens. The redenomination was undertaken purely to avoid the use of small decimals and make calculation easier. While all balances were increased by a factor of one hundred, this did not impact the distribution of DOT or holders’ proportional share. Polkadot’s first initial coin offering (ICO) was held in October 2017, and the Polkadot price was $0.29, with 2.24 million tokens offered. The second ICO was held in July 2020, and the Polkadot price offered was $1.25, and 342,080 DOT tokens were sold.

Polkadot is a sharded multichain network, meaning it can process many transactions on several chains in parallel (“parachains”). This parallel processing power improves scalability. Custom blockchains are quick and easy to develop using the Substrate framework and Substrate blockchains are designed to be easy to connect to Polkadot's network. The network is also highly flexible and adaptive, allowing the sharing of information and functionality between participants. Polkadot can be automatically upgraded without the need for a fork in order to implement new features or remove bugs. The network has a highly sophisticated user-driven governance system where all token holders have a vote in how the network is run. Teams can customize their own blockchain’s governance on Polkadot based on their needs and evolving conditions. Nominators, validators, and collators all fulfil various duties to help secure and maintain the network and eradicate bad behavior. At the end of 2021, Polkadot successfully concluded its first [Parachain auctions](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/polkadot-parachain-auctions-go-live). The Parachain auctions followed an un-permissioned candle auction system. The winning bid is the highest bid at the random moment the auction ends. Polkadot assigned the first five slots to the following auction winners: [Acala](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/acala/), [Moonbeam](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/moonbeam/), [Astar](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/astar/), [Parallel](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/parallel-finance/) and [Clover](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/clover/). These projects will have their parachain slots locked in for 96 weeks, guaranteed by the DOT bidders committed as collateral. As customary on Polkadot, all projects had previously been battle-tested on its de-facto testnet [Kusama](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/kusama/).

Polkadot is the flagship protocol of Web3 Foundation, a Swiss Foundation with a mission to facilitate an open-source, fully functional and user-friendly decentralized web. Polkadot’s founders are Dr. Gavin Wood, Robert Habermeier and Peter Czaban. Wood, Web3 Foundation’s president, is the most well-known of the trio thanks to his industry influence as Ethereum co-founder, Parity Technologies founder and the creator of the smart contract coding language Solidity. Wood is also credited with coining the term Web3. Habermeier is a Thiel Fellow and accomplished blockchain and cryptography researcher and developer. Czaban is the former Technology Director at Web3 Foundation, with a wealth of experience across highly specialized fintech industries.

Polkadot is an [open-source sharded multichain protocol](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/a-deep-dive-into-polkadot) that connects and secures a network of specialized blockchains, facilitating cross-chain transfer of any data or asset types, not just tokens, thereby allowing blockchains to be interoperable with each other. Polkadot was designed to provide a foundation for a decentralized internet of blockchains, also known as Web3. Polkadot is known as a layer-0 metaprotocol because it underlies and describes a format for a network of layer 1 blockchains known as parachains (parallel chains). As a metaprotocol, Polkadot is also capable of autonomously and forklessly updating its own codebase via on-chain governance according to the will of its token holder community. Polkadot provides a foundation to support a decentralized web, controlled by its users, and to simplify the creation of new applications, institutions and services. The Polkadot protocol can connect public and private chains, permissionless networks, oracles and future technologies, allowing these independent blockchains to trustlessly share information and transactions through the Polkadot Relay Chain (explained further down). Polkadot’s native DOT token serves three clear purposes: staking for operations and security, facilitating network governance, and bonding tokens to connect parachains . Polkadot has four core components: * Relay Chain: Polkadot’s “heart,” helping to create consensus, interoperability and shared security across the network of different chains; * [Parachains](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/what-are-parachain-slot-auctions-and-crowdloans): independent chains that can have their own tokens and be optimized for specific use cases; * Parathreads: similar to parachains but with flexible connectivity based on an economical pay-as-you-go model; * Bridges: allow parachains and parathreads to connect and communicate with external blockchains like Ethereum.

XRP is listed on many CeFi exchanges globally, including Binance, Huobi and Bitstamp. To learn more about this project, check out our deep dive of [XRP](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/xrp-a-history).

Unlike Bitcoin or Ethereum, the XRPL uses a unique Federated Consensus mechanism as its method of validating transactions. Transactions are confirmed on the XRPL through a consensus protocol, in which designated independent servers called validators come to an agreement on the order and outcome of XRP transactions. All servers in the network process each transaction according to the same rules, and any transaction that follows the protocol is confirmed right away. All transactions are public and transparent, and anyone can operate a validator. There are currently over 150 validators on the ledger, operated by universities, exchanges, businesses, and individuals around the world. Through the Federated Consensus mechanism, all verified transactions can be processed without a single point of failure as no single participant makes a decision independently.

The XRP Ledger architects gifted 80 billion XRP to Ripple so that the company could build use cases — including its global payments network, RippleNet — around the digital asset.

The XRP Ledger presents a wide variety of applications and use cases related to payments including micropayments, DeFi, and, soon, NFTs. Deployed in 2012, the XRPL supports enterprises and Python, Java and JavaScript developers with powerful utility and flexibility. On the XRP website, developers can access different tutorials to help them get started using different coding languages, building apps, managing accounts and more. Alongside its native coin, XRP, the XRP Ledger is used by developers to create solutions that solve inefficiencies, including remittance and asset tokenization. Currently, the five main applications of the XRP Ledger are payments, tokenization, DeFi, CBDCs and stablecoins.

In 2012, David Schwartz, Jed McCaleb and Arthur Britto launched the XRP Ledger with its native currency XRP as a faster, more energy-efficient alternative to the Bitcoin blockchain. In September that year, along with Chris Larsen, they founded the company that is today known as Ripple.

Launched in 2021, the [XRP Ledger (XRPL)](http://www.xrpl.org) is an open-source, permissionless and decentralized technology. Benefits of the XRP Ledger include its low-cost ($0.0002 to transact), speed (settling transactions in 3-5 seconds), scalability (1,500 transactions per second) and inherently green attributes (carbon-neutral and energy-efficient). The XRP Ledger also features the first decentralized exchange (DEX) and custom tokenization capabilities built into the protocol. Since 2012, the XRP Ledger has been operating reliably, having closed 70 million ledgers.

If you would like to know where to buy BCH at the current rate, the top cryptocurrency exchanges for trading in BCH are [Binance](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/binance/), [Coinbase](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/coinbase-exchange/), [KuCoin](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/kucoin/), [Kraken](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/kraken/) and more. Want to keep track of BCH price in real-time? Download the [CMC mobile app](https://coinmarketcap.com/mobile/) to get the live price of BCH, BTC and other cryptocurrencies.

[Mining](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/mining) is the process in which new Bitcoin Cash transactions are confirmed, and new blocks are added to the blockchain. Miners use computing power and electricity to solve complex puzzles. By doing so, they can produce new blocks of transactions. If one of their blocks is accepted by the network, the miner, or mining pool, earns a [block reward](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/block-reward) in the form of newly-issued Bitcoin Cash. Mining is highly competitive. As the price of Bitcoin Cash in the marketplace rises, more miners are incentivized to bring more [hash rate](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/hash-power-hash-rate) into the ever-increasing miner competition to produce and accept blocks by the Bitcoin Cash network. More miners make the blockchain more secure by increasing and distributing the hash rate. This prevents a single miner from having control over the web.

As with Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash is secured by a [Proof-of-Work](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/proof-of-work-vs-proof-of-stake) (PoW) consensus mechanism, where miners solve computationally intensive puzzles to validate transactions and create new blocks.

As with Bitcoin, the maximum supply of Bitcoin Cash has a hard cap of 21 million coins. The circulating supply as of May 2023 is 19,387,119 BCH.

Bitcoin Cash was considered by some supporters to be the legitimate continuation of Satoshi Nakamoto’s vision of Bitcoin as a peer-to-peer electronic cash. All Bitcoin holders at the time of the fork (block 478,558) automatically became owners of Bitcoin Cash. From a technical perspective, Bitcoin Cash is similar to the Bitcoin algorithm. Namely: both projects have a hard cap of 21 million coins and also use [Proof-of-Work](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/proof-of-work-vs-proof-of-stake) (PoW) consensus framework and nodes to verify transactions. Unlike Bitcoin ([BTC](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitcoin/)), Bitcoin Cash aims to scale to meet the demands of a global payment system. At the time of the split, the Bitcoin Cash block size was increased from 1MB to 8MB. An increased block size means Bitcoin Cash can now handle significantly more transactions per second (TPS) while keeping fees extremely low, solving the issues of payment delays and high fees experienced by some users on the Bitcoin BTC network. As of 2023, Bitcoin Cash has a block size of 32MB, compared to Bitcoin’s block size of 1MB.

Due to the larger block size, Bitcoin Cash (BCH) works faster and has lower transaction fees. Furthermore, Bitcoin Cash supports [smart contracts](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/smart-contract) and ecosystem apps. With a limited total supply of 21 million coins, Bitcoin Cash is provably scarce and, like physical cash, can be easily spent. Transactions are fast, with fees typically less than a tenth of a cent. Bitcoin Cash has various use cases. In addition to peer-to-peer payments between individuals, Bitcoin Cash can be used to pay participating merchants for goods and services in-store and online. Low fees enable new micro-transaction economies, such as tipping content creators and rewarding app users a few cents. Bitcoin Cash also reduces the expenses and settlement times for remittances and cross-border trade. Other use cases include tokens, simplified smart contracts, and private payments with tools such as CashShuffle and CashFusion.

[Satoshi Nakamoto](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/satoshi-nakamoto), an anonymous creator of Bitcoin, published the coin’s [whitepaper](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/whitepaper) entitled “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System” in 2008. In 2009, the first Bitcoin software that powered the blockchain, went live. The fees were low and the transactions were reliable for several years. However, by 2016, as the popularity of Bitcoin increased, the number of transactions on its network grew, leading to slow processing times and higher fees. Mining hardware manufacturer Bitmain proposed the hard fork for increasing the block size limit to allow more transactions per block, which went live on August 1, 2017, resulting in the creation of Bitcoin Cash. It received support from some in the Bitcoin community, like Roger Ver. Since its inception, Bitcoin Cash has experienced its own set of challenges and milestones. One notable event was another hard fork in November 2018, which led to the creation of [Bitcoin SV](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/bitcoin-vs-bitcoin-cash-vs-bitcoin-sv) (BSV), a separate cryptocurrency. The split was caused by disagreements within the Bitcoin Cash community regarding proposed changes to the protocol. As a result, two competing implementations emerged - Bitcoin ABC and Bitcoin SV - with the former continuing as Bitcoin Cash and the latter becoming its own distinct cryptocurrency.

[Bitcoin Cash (BCH)](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/what-is-bitcoin-cash) is a [peer-to-peer](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/what-is-peer-to-peer-p2p) electronic cash system that aims to become sound global money with fast payments, micro fees, privacy and larger [block size](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/block-size). As a permissionless, decentralized cryptocurrency, Bitcoin Cash requires no trusted third parties. Bitcoin Cash was created as an alternative to the first and most valuable cryptocurrency — [Bitcoin (BTC)](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitcoin/). In 2017, BCH developers modified the BTC code, releasing their software version and a full-fledged competitive product, which split Bitcoin into two blockchains: Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash. Bitcoin Cash is a result of a hard fork in the blockchain due to differences in the community over Bitcoin scaling and the SegWit upgrade. Moreover, another hard fork, which divided Bitcoin Cash into two parts, Bitcoin ABC and Bitcoin SV, took place in the fall of 2018. The scaling debate involved two sides: small block supporters opposed increasing block size as it could lead to blockchain centralization and vulnerability by making it harder to host full nodes. Large block supporters, however, advocated for a faster solution, concerned that rising transaction fees could hinder growth.

As you might expect, one of the most enthusiastic exchanges that offers USDC is Coinbase, given how the exchange was involved in this stablecoin’s creation. USDC can also be purchased and traded on Poloniex, Binance, OKEx and Bitfinex, as well as decentralized exchanges such as Uniswap. USDC is commonly bought with Bitcoin — and if it’s your first time buying Bitcoin, be sure to check out our comprehensive guide[ here](https://coinmarketcap.com/how-to-buy-bitcoin/).

All of the USDCs in circulation are actually ERC-20 tokens, which can be found on the Ethereum blockchain. One of the biggest advantages here is how it can then be integrated with Ethereum-based applications. As we mentioned earlier, security and confidence in this stablecoin is delivered by proving that U.S. dollars are being held safely in reserve.

It’s a bit difficult to give an exact number here — as in theory, the number of USDC that can exist is limitless. New coins are created in line with demand, whenever someone wants to purchase one with their humble dollar. That said, there have been factors that have helped USDC enjoy an explosion in popularity over the years — especially in 2020. One of them is the sudden, sharp rise in the popularity of decentralized finance. USDC is a common sight on many [DeFi](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/what-is-decentralized-finance) protocols given how it serves as an onramp to the wider ecosystem.

Following the [collapse](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/ust-plummets-to-0-38-and-luna-falls-82-in-24-hours-as-do-kwon-fails-to-deliver-recovery-plan) of TerraUSD, stablecoin issuers have been under intense scrutiny over the quality of the reserves backing their tokens. In a transparency move, Circle Internet Financial LLC (Circle), the issuer of the USDC stablecoin released its reserves report as of July 31, 2022. According to the report, the total USDC reserves held by the company consist of $42.3 billion worth of US Treasury Securities and total cash deposits of $12.2 billion. The monthly reserve report was issued by leading global accounting firm Grant Thornton. The accounting firm later released an independent attestation dated August 24, 2022. It reads: “_In our opinion, the Reserve Information in the accompanying USDC Reserve Report as of July 31, 2022 is fairly stated, based on the criteria set forth in the USDC Reserve Report, in all material respects._”

The stablecoin market has become exceedingly crowded over recent years — but USDC has aimed to stand head and shoulders over competitors in several ways. One of them concerns transparency — and giving users the assurance that they will be able to withdraw 1 USDC and receive $1 in return without any issues. To this end, it says a major accounting firm is tasked with verifying the levels of cash that are held in reserve, and ensuring this matches up with the [number of tokens](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/what-is-tokenomics) in circulation. Unlike some crypto ventures, Circle and Coinbase have also achieved regulatory compliance — and this has helped pave the way for international expansion. Both projects are also well-funded, giving the stablecoin certainty. [Coinbase](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/coinbase-exchange/) briefly contemplated [diversifying the funds backing USDC](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/facing-criticism-coinbase-promises-usdc-stablecoin-will-be-100-dollar-backed-again), but retracted that proposal after heavy community backlash. The transparency over the provenance of its funds has been a big reason for USDC's success. Unlike its rival [USDT](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/tether/), which has found itself embroiled in repeated [investigations](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/is-tether-untouchable-the-latest-twist-in-a-long-running-drama), USDC has never been accused of any wrongdoing. That has led to USDC gobbling up much of USDT's dominance in the [stablecoin](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/stablecoin) market: although USDT commanded a 74%:16% lead in market share in February 2021, this has shrunk to a 45%:30% lead in February 2022.

The Centre Consortium has two founding members. One of them is the peer-to-peer payment services company Circle, while the other is the Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange. Other crypto ventures are open to join this consortium. Explaining the rationale behind USDC, Circle co-founders Jeremy Allaire and Sean Neville wrote: “We believe that an open internet of value exchange can transform and integrate the world more deeply, eventually eliminating artificial economic borders and enabling a more efficient and inclusive global marketplace that connects every person on the planet.” In 2020, Circle and Coinbase collectively announced a major upgrade to USDC’s protocol and smart contract. The goal of these enhancements is to make it easier for USDC to be used for everyday payments, commerce and peer-to-peer transactions.