Solana uses SHA256 hash function for all their transactions, and this is where Proof of History comes in – the technology that Solana blockchain uses.
To understand how this works, let’s look at how Bitcoin’s proof of work works. A block on Bitcoin are large groups of transactions. These transactions are unordered, so each miner adds the time and date of each block they mine based on their timezone. Nodes have to figure out if these data is valid because the time zones of miners may be different, and the data entered may be invalid.
For scalability, the time to validate each transaction has to be cut short. And this is where Solana comes in.
It’s Proof of History system allows for the ordering of transactions in a chain of hashes. This way, validators process and transmit less information in a block. This greatly reduces the time spent to confirm a transaction.
Validators can easily verify how much time has passes because order of transactions is now inbuilt in the hashing process.
You can consider Proof of History as complementary to proof of stake because its not a consensus mechanism.
The combination of both results in ease in selecting the next validator.
Therefore, nodes needs less time to validate order of transactions.
Now while speed is good, adoption is another thing entirely. Solana is quite young at the moment. So time is needed to see how much this blockchain can help people as more and more people use it.
