Looking to buy Solana (SOL) in the UK?
Check out this post for a quick list of where you can buy it with GBP in 2023.
Where to Buy Solana in the UK?
Here’s a quick overview of some popular places where you can buy Solana (SOL) in the UK.
| Provider | Payment Method | Trading Fees |
|---|---|---|
| Kraken | UK Bank Transfer | 0.26% or less |
| Coinbase (Advanced) | UK Bank Transfer | 0.60% or less |
| CoinJar | UK Bank Transfer | 1% |
| Coinbase | UK Bank Transfer | 2% (if > £200) |
| Crypto.com App | UK Bank Transfer | Variable Exchange Rate |
| BC Bitcoin | UK Bank Transfer | 5% |
| CoinJar | Debit Card | 2% |
| Crypto.com App | Debit Card | 2.99% + Variable Exchange Rate |
| Coinbase | Debit Card | 5.49% (if > £200) |
Scroll down to learn more about my favourite choices.
Buying Solana in the UK
1. Coinbase or Kraken
Using a popular cryptocurrency exchange like Coinbase or Kraken often ends up being the cheapest way to buy lots of popular cryptocurrencies.
- Coinbase’s Advanced Trade interface has fees that start at 0.6% for market makers and 0.4% for takers.
- Kraken’s fees are significantly lower, starting at 0.16% for market makers and 0.26% for market. You’ll unlock lower trading fees when you trade more using the same exchange.
You can deposit GBP into both places using a UK bank transfer (Faster Payments) for free. You’ll then be able to directly buy Solana (SOL) with GBP on both these cryptocurrency exchanges.
For a detailed side-by-side look at these two platforms, check out my Coinbase vs Kraken write-up.
Coinbase WebsiteKraken Website
2. CoinJar
CoinJar is a long-running company (established 2013) in the cryptospace that serves UK and Australian users. It now supports 57 cryptocurrencies, which includes Solana (SOL).
UK residents can deposit GBP into CoinJar with a UK bank transfer (Faster Payments). Initial deposits take longer, but thereafter you’ll find that deposits get credited in minutes (at least in my experience).
You can then use its intuitive website or mobile app to buy Solana (SOL). You’ll be charged a 1% fee when buying or selling on CoinJar – which is more expensive than using a cryptocurrency exchange, but much more beginner friendly.
Alternatively, you can instantly buy Solana (SOL) or any other supported cryptocurrency with a debit card. But the fee for this is 2%.
And given that you can essentially get GBP into CoinJar within minutes of initiating a transfer, I don’t think using a card is that much more convenient.
3. Crypto.com App
The Crypto.com app is a mobile app that enables you to buy Solana (SOL) and more than 250 other cryptocurrencies.
It’s absolutely not the most beginner-friendly crypto-focused mobile app that I’ve used (as an aside, the best I’ve come across are CoinJar and Luno). Still, it’s a convenient way to buy and sell cryptocurrencies like Solana (SOL).
You can deposit GBP with a UK bank transfer (via Faster Payments) for free, but there’s a 2.99% fee (for UK residents) when using a debit card to instantly buy something.
But here’s the thing:
The exchange rate you’re quoted when buying Solana (SOL) on the Crypto.com app isn’t the same as what’s being charged on liquid cryptocurrency exchanges though.
When I checked, I found that the Solana (SOL) prices on the Crypto.com app were about 1% higher than on Kraken. However, this doesn’t appear to be a fixed spread.
What is Solana (SOL)?
Solana (SOL) is the native cryptocurrency for the Solana blockchain. It was designed to make crypto transactions and decentralised apps (DApps) faster, cheaper, and more scalable. SOL, the network’s token, is used to pay for transaction fees, secure the network through staking, and provide governance votes for token holders.
The Solana network was first conceptualised in 2017 when developer Anatoly Yakovenko published a whitepaper that described a new consensus mechanism called Proof of History (PoH). Yakovenko soon joined forces with programmers Greg Fitzgerald and Stephen Akridge to found a company called Loom. They later rebranded to Solana and the network went live in 2020.
Here’s a quick video that describes what Solana is, how it works, and what makes it unique:
Solana is a layer-1 blockchain that was built specifically with scalability in mind. It boasts a theoretical maximum capacity of 65,000 transactions per second (TPS), which is substantially faster than the approximately 7 TPS that we see on the Bitcoin network.
The Solana network achieves these lightning-fast transaction speeds using its innovative Proof of History (PoH) system.
PoH isn’t technically a consensus mechanism and it actually operates in conjunction with Solana’s Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus model. The idea here is that PoS is used to secure the Solana network and to validate transactions, but PoH helps ensure that these transactions are processed and confirmed at lightning speeds.
How’s this possible?
Basically, Solana’s PoH acts as a sort of central timekeeper for the network. It allows the nodes that secure the network to very quickly agree on the ordering of events without the need to ever communicate with each other.
Since each node follows the same clock (rather than its local time), the nodes don’t have to talk to each other to ensure that transactions are valid and in the right order before they’re added to the blockchain.
This decrease in required communication greatly increases the efficiency of the network—so much so that Solana has some of the fastest transaction times in the business.
Solana’s speedy transitions, low fees, and its support for smart contracts (called ‘Programs’) have made it a major competitor for Ethereum, especially in the world of NFTs and DeFi. There are also a number of other projects in the works that are built on Solana, such as the decentralised music streaming service Audius.
SOL, the Solana network’s native cryptocurrency, is primarily a utility token. There are three main uses for the Solana (SOL) token:
- Transaction Fees: Although transaction costs are usually very low on the Solana network, any fees that are generated on the network need to be paid in SOL.
- Network Security & Staking Rewards: The Solana network is secured through a Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism, so validator nodes need to stake SOL to confirm transactions. SOL token holders can either run their own nodes or delegate their tokens to validators. Anyone who stakes SOL is eligible to receive SOL tokens as staking rewards.
- Governance Votes: Holders of SOL tokens also get governance votes on proposed changes to the Solana network.
Best Solana (SOL) Wallets
Solana (SOL) token is supported by a handful of major crypto wallets.
Popular software wallets that support Solana (SOL) include:
- Solflare: This is a non-custodial software wallet that’s specifically designed for Solana. It supports SOL as well as all SPL tokens, which are Solana’s visions of ERC-20 tokens. Solflare is available as a desktop app and browser extension, but it will soon be available as a mobile app. You can also use Solflare to access SOL staking and Solana-based NFTs.
- Atomic Wallet: Probably my favourite multi-currency software wallet, Atomic Wallet is available as a desktop and mobile app. It supports SOL tokens, as well as a range of other crypto networks like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). You can also stake SOL tokens directly from an Atomic Wallet.
- Trust Wallet: This is a non-custodial software wallet that was designed by the team at Binance. It’s available as a mobile app and it has full support for Solana. Like Atomic Wallet, Trust Wallet also offers SOL token staking.
- Exodus: Available as a desktop and mobile app, Exodus is a multi-currency wallet that supports Solana (SOL), plus Bitcoin (BTC) and hundreds of other cryptocurrencies. Exodus also supports in-wallet staking for SOL tokens.
Prefer to use a hardware wallet instead?
Ledger is one of the only hardware wallets that can store the private keys to your SOL tokens. However, Ledger Live, the Ledger wallet interface, doesn’t support Solana (SOL) tokens. To manage your SOL, you need to integrate your Ledger device with Solflare.