Last week, a report from Bank of America predicted that smart contract platform Solana is expected to become the “Visa” of digital assets.
The report explained that while the Ethereum blockchain was a popular choice due to its security and decentralization, it suffered in its scalability. As an attractive alternative, Solana’s prioritization of micropayments regarding gaming and NFTs allowed for a utility similar to that of Visa, but for crypto.
“Solana could become the Visa of the digital assets ecosystem. Ethereum’s prioritization could optimize it for high-value transactions and identity, storage, and supply chain use cases,” Alkesh Shah told the Daily HODL.
It’s not just Bank of America analysts that saw Solana’s potential. The cryptocurrency has outperformed Ethereum over the last year, with its market price skyrocketing 4000% over the last year as well as reaching a market cap of $47 billion.
After launching in March 2020, Solana has witnessed over 50 billion settled transactions and has had over 5.7 million NFTs minted on its blockchain. “[Solana’s] innovations allow for the processing of an industry-leading 65,000 transactions per second with average transaction fees of $0.000025 while remaining relatively decentralized and secure,” Shah said.
Although Solana has seen a successful debut and made a name for itself in the media, it isn’t without its shortcomings. In December and January, the blockchain’s distributed-denial-of-service attacks caused long wait periods and network congestion.
Despite a competitive sector, Tezos, one of the original proof-of-stake blockchain, is proving a worthwhile competitor to Ethereum and Solana. Specifically, through its new CryptoLife app which will allow users access to their own debit card on which they can use crypto or fiat, store and transfer crypto with ease, and access an interest-free loan service known as Cryptodrafts.
Tezos’ partnership with Baanx, the FinTech that allows users to buy, sell, and transfer crypto to anyone instantly across the world with its debit card, is one particular milestone for the company, giving it an unprecedented competitive advantage.
On January 5, the UK-based FinTech which has experienced rapid growth over the last twelve months finally received its full crypto activity registration approval by the FCA. The approval allows Baanx to enhance its current services by providing secure Cryptodraft products to users, allowing holders to receive funding starting at 0% APR by collateralizing their crypto holdings.
Chief Compliance Officer Mark Evans says the registration is a milestone for the company. Evans explained that this step forward allowed the clients of Baanx to rest assured that their digital assets were being handled by a counterparty that is approved by, and meets the oversight requirements of the FCA, one of the highest standards regulatory bodies in the world.
Garth Howat, Founder and CEO of Baanx, adds: “Baanx is a global leading FinTech platform trusted by international clients like Ledger and Tezos. The FCA approval marks another milestone of our continued success in providing leading services that disrupt the FinTech and banking ecosystem. Following our recent announcement, Baanx is currently working with Ledger on providing cryptodraft services to the Ledger community with a Q1 rollout across many key countries in the EEA and parts of the US. The CL card platform, powered by Ledger, will initially support BTC, ETH, USDT, EURT, USDC, XRP, BXX, BCH and LTC. In the next couple of weeks, we’re also launching our next partnership with Tezos, which will also offer cryptodraft to the Tezos community. This will be an exciting opportunity for BXX token holders as we drive greater utility into the token with the Cryptodraft product.”
As cryptocurrency continues to be rapidly adopted in the mainstream financial world, technology is quickly evolving to keep up. One such advancement is the ability to use cryptocurrency as one would a Visa card. While a competitive market, Tezos is proving to be a worthwhile contender in the space, providing a welcome alternative to Ethereum’s scalability problems and Solana’s network congestion.
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