1.- Explain in detail the PoH of Solana.
One of the biggest problem in history of blockchain is the problem of agreeing on a particular timestamp as different nodes do not trust the different timestamps from different nodes. This is where the proof of history(PoH) of the solana blockchain comes in to play as the solana blockchain uses a system of cyptography to source for the time through out the networks, the proof of history (PoH) has a Verifiable Delay Function (VDF) that gives an accurate and distinguised result that could be confirmed by everyone
The proof of history(PoH) helps in grouping messages which aids in determining the time and reduces scalability problem on the block chain and increases the trust value on the blockchain which makes it unique, fast and relaible
It works with a sequence cryptographically that is secured so that the output cannot be detected by the input and must be completed to provide the output and it gives the sequence in such a way that the timestamp justifies that data was created before the next hash.
2.- Explain at least 2 cases of use of Solana.
Honestly during the course of this assignment I realised by research that solana has a lot of great things and projects cooking which are very useful to the blockchain technology and the world at large. I will be explaning two(2) use cases of the solana as required by the lecturer
- Maps.me:
image from maps.meI really wonder if it is just me or everyone has virtually lost our way at a point in time. this is one of the top use cases of the solana blockchain by producing the project called Maps.me. The Maps.me is a mobile app that has integrated decentralized finance (DeFi) features into it's application making it a great travel crpto wallet as users can travel and be rewarded with their reward system. It also provides offline maps helping users find their ways to their respective locations. maps.me/
- Audius:
image from audius.coThis is a decentralized online music creating platform that gives everyone a voice without stress, although it was formerly a project of the etheruem blockchain after much considerations, it was handed over to solana by the developers and so far it has grown greatly generating more than 1 million listeners monthly. The database has been on the rise ever since it was handed over as a project of solana and subscribers are making great use of this opportunity as it can also be monetized for them to earn. You can check them out https://audius.co/
3.- Detail and explain the SOLA token.
image from solanaSola is a token built by the solana blockchain network with the promises of solving scalability problem and a good timing system mechanism. the token has grown and is being compared to other great tokens because of its rise in recent times. It works with the AMM algorithm system. The Sola token has become more popular as it has a lesser fee than etheruem, although that there are a lot affecting the price factors of the token but a major part are being influenced by investors who believe in the system and are holding for a long term
below is the statistics of the sola token as at the time of this assignment
| SOLA Price | $0.055003 |
|---|---|
| Market Cap | $1,493,495 |
| Market Cap Dominance | 0.00% |
| Trading Volume | $41,735 |
| Volume / Market Cap | 0.0279 |
| 24h Low / 24h High | $0.050860 / $0.068136 |
| 7d Low / 7d High | $0.052692 / $0.091304 |
| Market Cap Rank | #1835 |
| All-Time High | $0.119473 -54.0% |
| All-Time Low | $0.00328164 1573.0% |
the SOLA token can be found on a few wallets for now not yet listed on exchanges
4.- When did Solana Blockchain see its operations interrupted? Why? Explain.
The breakdown happened recently on the 09/20/2021 by 12:29pm UTC. this interruption kept over $11 billion worth of investors money locked down with any disruption for 17hours which caused over 5% crash of the price.
The Solana blockchain made a release on their investigations as concerning the interruptions which they said that the major cause of the blockchain interruption was, a blockage of service attack. At 12:29pm UTC, the Grape Protocol executed an IDO which generated 400,000 Transactions Per Second (TPS) that overloaded the blockchain. creating a memory exhaustion, which made validators to stall and forcing the blockchain to stall eventually.
although this outrage occurred when the SOL token was at its peak getting to a high of about $171 before the interruption occurred
5.- Check the last block generated in Solana and make an approximate calculation of How many blocks per second have been generated in Solana, taking into account from the initial block to the current one? Justify your answer and show screenshots.
- in order to carry out this task first of all,I will be navigating to the solana block explorer
at the moment of this assignment, the last block was #98998836 , which I copied
- go to the search above and paste the number which was copied and click on the slot
- After the the block has been identified, we can see the details below
I will also be confirm from solsan.io , here is the link to the direct block https://solscan.io/block/98998836
this is the hompage of solscan.io
FINDING BLOCK 1
- goto the search option and type 1 , scroll down to the slot and click on it
- below are the block 1 details
Estimating the calculation of the block from the data given we discover that so many blocks has been generated and we can multiply the block by 0.5secs to determine the total number of seconds used, so in the case of the block number 98998836 it will be 49,499,418 seconds. so down to the calculations for time interval
- Per second ( 60 sec / 0.5 secs) gives 2 blocks
- Per minutes (2 blocks x 60 secs) gives 120 blocks
- Per Hour (120 blocks x 60 mins) gives 7200 blocks
- Per day (7200 blocks x 24 hours) gives 172,800 blocks
- Per Month (172,800 blocks x 30 days) gives 5,184,000 blocks
- Per Year (5,184,000 blocks x 12 months) gives 62,208,000 blocks
so I will be calculating the number of blocks till date
solana started on the 16th of march 2020
in the year 2020 we have = 290 days
so far in 2021, we have in 29th september = 272 days
so therefore the total number of days is 562 days
then we have 562 days x 172,800 = 97,113,600 blocks
the difference = 98,998,836 - 97,113,600 =1,885,236 blocks
conclusion
The class was an awesome intermediate class with mind blowing lectures from @pelon53 , I learnt alot about the solana blockchain and its advantages , learnt about how its solved scalability and timestamp issues. The solana block chain has currently a lot of projects on going and its really a great investment to partake, thank you all for reading. God bless you all