What is the native cryptocurrency of Solana?

The native cryptocurrency of Solana is SOL.

SOL is the token issued by the Solana blockchain and is used to pay transaction fees, interact with decentralized applications, and participate in network staking. Validators can stake SOL, directly or through delegators, to help secure the network and earn rewards under Solana’s proof-of-stake system.

Solana was founded in 2018 by Anatoly Yakovenko and Raj Gokal, and its network launched publicly in March 2020. It was built for high-throughput applications, including decentralized finance, non-fungible tokens, and other smart-contract-based services. The token’s ticker is written as SOL, while “Solana” names the broader blockchain platform.

A frequent mistake is choosing ETH because Solana is often compared with Ethereum, or selecting DOT or AVAX because those are also major blockchain tokens. Solana’s Proof of History is another source of confusion: it is a time-ordering mechanism used within Solana’s architecture, not the name of its native currency. SOL is the asset used across the Solana ecosystem.