By @JonahB, @Maddiaa0 & @NFTtaylor
Thanks to those at @blockchaincap who gave feedback on the article.
Originally, Bitcoin was the only blockchain in town, reigning supreme as a ledger for digital gold. Then Ethereum arrived with a different vision—no longer just a store of value network, but a world computer: a platform for smart contracts and decentralized applications. For years, Ethereum held that market to itself. Today, however, Solana has emerged as a credible alternative: a blockchain built around sub-second blocktimes, parallel transaction execution, and a novel fee model. We no longer live in a unipolar world of one dominant smart-contract platform; instead, multiple competing ecosystems now vie to become the world computer.
In conversations with many Ethereum researchers and developers, we’re constantly surprised by how little knowledge there is of how Solana works. That gap exists because Solana reimagines nearly every layer of the stack—from virtual-machine design to state management, from staking economics to network propagation. The Helius.dev blog and the official docs both do an outstanding job explaining these technical layers in depth, though the posts can be a long read. What we aim to offer instead is a series of short, bite-sized entries—each comparing one core aspect of Ethereum with its Solana counterpart. If you want to dive deeper, Helius.dev and the official docs are there, but this series will give you a fast overview so you can get up to speed on Solana’s design.
@JonahB was a smart-contract engineer focused on EVM-based development for several years before joining Blockchain Capital as an investor. Blockchain Capital has backed multiple marquee projects across the Ethereum and Solana ecosystems, and Jonah has contributed extensively to Ethereum research and MEV literature.
@Maddiaa0 is a software engineer at Aztec Labs and a Venture Partner at Blockchain Capital. At Aztec he works on Infra, Networking and Zero Knowledge Cryptography. Previously he contributed to open source projects such as the Huff Compiler.
@NFTtaylor is one of the earliest developers on Solana, pivoting to the SVM ecosystem in 2020 after 4 years of tinkering with EVM. He co-founded PsyOptions, the developer of the first onchain options protocol that was CLOB settled. He now runs the Exo Tech development shop, dedicated to helping teams build on SVM chains. Through Exo Tech, Taylor has contributed to many prominent organizations such as Solana Foundation, Jito, 0x, Agora, and more.
This series was originally posted by Jonah B on behalf of Blockchain Capital, make sure to check out their outstanding work.