Bitcoin (BTC) and Solana (SOL): a comparison
Bitcoin and Solana set side by side: how the quotes moved, how the protocols are built and what tasks each one was made for.
Specifications of BTC and SOL
| Bitcoin (BTC) | Solana (SOL) | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $74,836.00 | $86.10 |
| Ticker | BTC | SOL |
| Type | coin of its own network | coin of its own network |
| Launched | 2009 | 2020 |
| Built by | Satoshi Nakamoto | Anatoly Yakovenko |
| Consensus | Proof of Work (SHA-256) | Proof of Stake + Proof of History |
| Block | ~10 min | — |
| Supply cap | 21 M BTC | no cap |
| Privacy | transfers are public | transfers are public |
| In circulation | 20.11 M BTC | 591.15 M SOL |
| Market cap | $1.5 T | $50.9 B |
| Rank by cap | #1 | #7 |
Source: CoinGecko, Nov 10, 2026 12:57. How these numbers are counted
Price movement: BTC and SOL
The start of the period is taken as 100 for both prices: the chart shows the difference in movement, not the quotes themselves.
| Period | BTC | SOL |
|---|---|---|
| 7 days | −3.94% | −5.92% |
| 30 days | −8.91% | −21.45% |
| 90 days | +17.66% | +13.37% |
The link between their daily moves over the quarter is 0.87 (they travel together).
The tasks BTC and SOL were made for
- Storing value over the long runBitcoin
- Contracts and applicationsSolana
How Bitcoin and Solana are built
How Bitcoin works
Underneath it is Proof of Work on SHA-256. Miners compete for the right to close the next block, which happens roughly every 10 minutes, and the reward is made up of new coins plus transaction fees. Every 210,000 blocks, about once every four years, the reward is cut in half, so issuance gradually fades out. Balances are not held in accounts but as unspent outputs (UTXO).
What Bitcoin is for
Most people buy bitcoin for the long run and hold it, treating it as a way to preserve capital. At the same time it stays the reference point for the whole market: trading pairs, indices and derivatives are quoted against it. Less often, it is used for what it was built for — cross-border transfers — while small payments are moved to the Lightning Network.
How Solana works
On top of Proof of Stake it runs Proof of History — a cryptographic clock that sets the order of transactions. A slot lasts about 400 milliseconds, and processing runs in parallel. The SPL standard is used for tokens.
What Solana is for
Network fees are paid in SOL, and the same coin is staked to secure the blockchain. Solana hosts decentralised exchanges, payment services, NFT marketplaces and dozens of well-known tokens.