XLM vs SOL compare

XLM vs SOL Comparison

The crypto market is booming, and more people are investing in cryptocurrencies. Yet, because it's so new, there can be a bit of a learning curve when you first start. 

In this article, we compare XLM vs SOL coins. You can then decide the best possible option for your investment strategy.

XLM Overview

Stellar is an open network that allows instant transactions. It also provides for ease of storage.

One of its initial goals was to help underdeveloped countries have a global reach. Later, the company changed its priorities by transitioning into the finance industry.

Lumens, the network's native asset, provides a competitive edge. It offers instant cross-border payments at lower fees than traditional providers.

Jed McCaleb, the co-founder of Stellar, was formerly at Ripple. He left in 2013 after disagreements about the company's future direction. 

He met lawyer Joyce Kim and together, they founded Stellar Networks in 2014. The co-founders did this with the ultimate aim of improving the quality of instant transactions.

Stellar is currently ranked #30 by CoinMarketCap. The token investors trade with 24.8 billion of the coin's 50 billion maximum token supply.

SOL Overview

Solana is an innovative decentralized computing platform. Its purpose was to solve the main problems inherent to the blockchain (i.e., scalability). 

Solana claims to support 50,000 transactions per second without sacrificing decentralization. It does this through innovative techniques such as the Proof-of-Stake and Proof-of-History consensus.

Anatoly Yakovenko released Solana to the public in 2020. Over time, it has become popular. It currently ranks #8 on CoinMarketCap.

Stellar Lumens vs Solana: Which Is Preferable?

Stellar Lumens (XLM) and Solana are two different types of blockchains. Stellar Lumens uses a consensus algorithm called Tendermint, while Solana uses Proof-of-Stake. 

There has been a continuous debate on the effectiveness of each consensus process. Advocates of each type claim that their system is superior. 

Stellar's utility is nowhere near as good as it would seem on the surface. Solana has fully eclipsed Stellar despite being relatively younger. Although this fact does not correlate with its market cap of more than $4B, Stellar's actual usage seems unknown and unexploited. In comparison, Solana has a solid user base that sustains a market cap of over $20B. It also maintains a significantly higher utility than Stellar.

Stellar Lumens is less decentralized when compared to Solana. When comparing Stellar versus Solana as a decentralized marketplace, the latter has more reliability and protection.

A Quick Review of XLM and SOL Live Price

The price of Solana had been slowly rising from the initial $0.78 to around $2 until the beginning of 2021. Then, the value shot up quite suddenly, reaching first $17, then $47, then $188, and a peak of $260 in November. After the all-time high (ATH), however, the coin went into a steady downtrend to less than $100.

Stellar, being an older coin, has had a bit of up-and-down price history, with an ATH of $0.93 in 2018 and a smaller peak of $0.79 in May 2021. In between, the price hung around $0.02-0.08. At the beginning of 2022, the coin experienced yet another decrease in value.

As you can see, to make an XLM to SOL exchange, you will need over 500 Stellar Lumens to get 1 Solana coin.

XLM vs SOL: In Summary

Stellar Lumens (XLM) is 20 times cheaper to send than Solana (SOL). On the other hand, transactions on XLM take ten times longer to process. 

The speed, amongst other factors, is what traders look at when deciding if they should trade XLM or SOL.

Sure, Stellar is a fast-growing company and one that's been in the crypto game for a long time. It's also a company that has invested heavily in research, development, and marketing. 

However, currently, Solana shines well above it regarding speed, security, safety, and flexibility.