In the exhilarating lead up to your ICO campaign launch, it’s important to consider which blockchain platform you want to release your tokens on. While there are quite a number of different platforms gracing the digital landscape, each one of them have their own unique set of pros and cons. We’ve done all the hard work for you and listed the notable qualities of three major platforms Ethereum, Polkadot and Solana.
Ethereum
We couldn’t do a review of blockchain platforms without talking about Ethereum now could we? In 2015, Vitalik Buterin launched the Ethereum network, which quickly became a huge competitor to the original blockchain platform – Bitcoin. Ethereum distributes its own token called Ether which has now become the second most valuable cryptocurrency in the world. It goes without saying that Ethereum is the most popular platform when it comes to token releases, but is it worth the hype?
Pros:
- Ethereum is the biggest ecosystem by far
- The platform is the market leader in the smart contract space and was the first platform to utilise smart contracts
- All of the largest innovations occur on the Ethereum platform including Defi and NFTs
- Ethereum has the biggest network of developers
Cons:
- Gas fees are pricing out newcomers, many opting for cheaper chains
- Heavy reliance on the ETH foundation
- ETH 2.0 could have potential issues
Polkadot
Launched in 2020, Polkadot is one of the newest players in the blockchain market. Founded by Ethereum co-founder Gavin Wood and his associates Peter Czaban and Robert Habermeier, Polkadot is making waves with its novel technical features and is becoming a worthy competitor for Ethereum. The unique feature of the Polkadot platform is that it is designed to operate two blockchains. The first, called the relay chain, acts as the main network while the second runs user-created networks called parachains.
Pros:
- Polkadot has a building network and user base – one of the market leaders in interoperability.
- It was founded by Ethereum co-founder Gavin Woods.
- Substrate (Polkadot coding language) has more flexibility than Solidity (ETH coding language).
Cons:
- You need to run a crowdfund to reserve a parachain slot.
- It has a smaller pool of participants and talent than Ethereum, however this could change.
Solana
The Solana platform was founded in 2017 by Anatoly Yakovenko and his team, including Greg Fitzgerald, Stephen Akridge and Raj Gokal. Solana utilises a revolutionary mechanism developed by Anatoly himself, called Proof of History. The Proof of History Mechanism allowed Solana to become one of the highest performing blockchain platforms in the world. Solana is able to provide its users with transaction speeds of over 50,000 transactions per second with block times over 400 milliseconds. That’s 100,000 times faster than systems that use Proof of Work mechanisms such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Pros:
- Solana has a rapidly building network and user base, which has just surpassed Polygon in terms of TVL (total value locked).
- The platform is highly endorsed by influential cryptocurrency figure Sam Bankman-Fried
- It is lightning fast, reaching an average block time of 400–800 milliseconds with an average transaction fee of 0.000005 SOL.
- Strong VC presence.
- Solana refuses to sting its users with ridiculously high fees, so it keeps its average transaction fee around 0.000005 SOL.
Cons:
- Solana could be considered semi-centralised. Their efforts to boost speed relies on a semi-centralised structure in which a node leader is elected and all nodes then agree to adopt one universal source of time.
- Their protocol is relatively new, meaning that it hasn’t undergone the same testing as other platforms.
- Solana currently has a smaller pool of participants and talent than competitor Ethereum, however this could change as Solana matures.
