What is Solana’s Proof of Stake?

In addition to Proof of History, Solana utilizes a Proof of Stake algorithm which lets users stake tokens to help secure the Solana network. The protocol uses a delegated stake model, which sees users delegating their tokens to established network validators. This is a shared-risk, shared-reward model that incentivizes token holders to have their tokens delegated for long periods of time.

At the same time, the goal of a validator is to get more people to delegate tokens because the delegated stake size determines how often a validator is chosen to write new transactions to the ledger. In addition, similarly to other PoS protocols, Solana employs a slashing mechanism – which removes and destroys tokens from a stake – to penalize malicious behavior, which creates a financial incentive for validators to perform their duties diligently.

Validators also charge delegators with a commission fee, which is calculated as a percentage of rewards earned. This fee is meant to cover the costs validators incur when running and maintaining their systems. And since validators always look to attract more deligators, this encourages them to compete on fees  – naturally, validators who offer lower fees for their services are more attractive.

For starters, smart contracts in Solana are called programs and are stateless. This means that, unlike Ethereum smart contracts which contain both the program logic and state, Solana programs contain only the logic and are deployed on-chain in a ‘read-only’ mode. Once deployed, the programs can b...