Bitcoin (BTC) vs Solana (SOL): comparison
Side-by-side comparison of Bitcoin and Solana: how their prices moved, how they differ technically and what each is used for.
BTC and SOL: key specs
| Bitcoin (BTC) | Solana (SOL) | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $77,609.00 | $101.63 |
| Ticker | BTC | SOL |
| Type | native blockchain coin | native blockchain coin |
| Launched | 2009 | 2020 |
| Created by | Satoshi Nakamoto | Anatoly Yakovenko |
| Consensus | Proof of Work (SHA-256) | Proof of Stake + Proof of History |
| Block time | ~10 min | — |
| Max supply | 21 M BTC | no cap |
| Transaction privacy | public transactions | public transactions |
| Circulating supply | 20.08 M BTC | 586.54 M SOL |
| Market cap | $1.56 T | $59.66 B |
| Market cap rank | #1 | #7 |
CoinGecko data as of Sep 11, 2026, 19:33. How we calculate the data
Price change: BTC vs SOL
Both prices are set to 100 at the start of the period, so the chart shows which coin grew or fell more, not the prices themselves.
| Period | BTC | SOL |
|---|---|---|
| 7 days | −4.84% | −4.07% |
| 30 days | +21.71% | +30.85% |
| 90 days | +20.06% | +44.78% |
The correlation of their daily price changes over the last 90 days is 0.79 (strong).
BTC or SOL: what each is used for
- Long-term store of valueBitcoin
- Smart contracts and appsSolana
How Bitcoin and Solana work
How Bitcoin works
The network uses Proof of Work with the SHA-256 algorithm: miners compete to add a new block roughly every 10 minutes and receive newly issued coins plus fees. Every 210,000 blocks (about four years) the block reward is cut in half, which slows issuance until the 21 million cap is reached. Balances are tracked as unspent transaction outputs (UTXO).
What Bitcoin is used for
Bitcoin is mostly held as a long-term store of value and used as the base asset of the crypto market: most trading pairs, indices and derivatives are priced against it. It is also used for cross-border transfers and, through the Lightning Network, for small fast payments.
How Solana works
Solana combines Proof of Stake with Proof of History, a cryptographic clock that helps order transactions. Slots last about 400 milliseconds and transactions are processed in parallel. Tokens on Solana follow the SPL standard.
What Solana is used for
SOL pays network fees and is staked to secure the network. Solana hosts decentralized exchanges, payment apps, NFT marketplaces and many popular tokens.