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Do not invest unless you are prepared to lose all the money you invest. Cryptoassets are high-risk investments, and you should not expect to be protected if something goes wrong. Take two minutes to learn more. Additionally, capital gains tax may apply to profits from cryptocurrency sales.
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To buy Solana (SOL) in the UK, you’ll need to:
We’ve put together a list of the best places to buy Solana in the UK. These are apps, wallets, platforms and crypto exchanges where you can buy Solana, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cardano and other cryptocurrencies in the UK.
Please remember that cryptoassets such as Solana are highly volatile, unregulated investment products with no UK or EU investor protection. You could lose all the money you put into them. Additionally, capital gains tax may apply to profits from cryptocurrency sales.
Here are the best places to buy Solana in the UK:
eToro is a multi-asset trading platform that enables you to trade or invest in cryptocurrencies, NFTs, stocks, ETFs, commodities, forex, and indices, directly or via contracts for difference (CFDs). With eToro, you can trade over 70 “real” cryptocurrencies, including popular coins like Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Binance Coin (BNB) and Dogecoin.
Crypto trading on eToro is suitable for both beginners and advanced traders. Beginners can benefit from the educational materials, user-friendly desktop and mobile apps and copy trading tools (which allow you to copy the trades of top-performing crypto traders on the eToro platform). Advanced traders can take advantage of the superior charting and analytics tools, staking service, social trading feature, and real-time crypto market news and insights. You can also benefit from eToro’s risk management tools, such as Stop Loss, Take Profit and Trailing Stop Loss, to better manage your positions, protect your investments and secure your profits. Stop Loss and Take Profit are not guaranteed.
It is entirely free to open an account with eToro, and all registered users receive a US$100,000 demo account for free, which you can use to practise buying crypto and other assets before committing real money. eToro does not charge a deposit fee but charges a 1% trading fee on all crypto positions. Trading on eToro occurs in USD, so a conversion fee will apply if you deposit or withdraw in a currency other than USD. Withdrawals incur a fee of US$5 (£4), and the minimum withdrawal amount is US$30 (£24). For UK customers, eToro offers an eToro Money app that allows you to convert your GBP to USD free of charge, thereby reducing your foreign exchange costs. The app also functions as a crypto wallet for storing your crypto holdings and allows for easy transfer of your cryptocurrency from one exchange or wallet to another.
Please note: Do not invest unless you are prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment, and you should not expect to be protected if something goes wrong. Take two minutes to learn more. Additionally, 80 - 90% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. Copy Trading does not amount to investment advice.
Coinbase is a cryptocurrency exchange that allows you to buy, sell and hold cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and other DeFi products and keep track of them in one place. With Coinbase, you have over 240 cryptocurrencies to choose from, including popular coins and tokens like Bitcoin, Ethereum, USD Coin, Tether, Dogecoin and Polygon. You can also trade new or rare coins that may not be available on other crypto exchanges. New cryptocurrencies are added to the Coinbase exchange as frequently as every few days.
Coinbase also gives you access to a self-custody crypto wallet where you can store all your crypto and NFTs in one place. The Coinbase Wallet also supports hundreds of thousands of tokens and dApps, and users can use DeFi liquidity pools to supply or borrow crypto and swap assets on decentralised exchanges. Coinbase offers a crypto card powered by an FCA-licensed e-money institution. With the Coinbase card, you can spend crypto like cash anywhere Visa cards are accepted. If you are interested in learning about how specific cryptocurrencies work, you can take advantage of Coinbase’s earn feature, which rewards you with a tiny bit of crypto for completing online courses on cryptocurrencies. The Coinbase desktop and mobile apps are beautifully designed, easy to use, and offer a range of products that are suitable for beginners, advanced crypto traders, and businesses.
There are multiple fees involved when trading crypto on Coinbase. Fees are calculated at the time you place your order and may be determined by a combination of factors, including the selected payment method, the size of the order, and market conditions such as volatility and liquidity. For basic trading, fees will be listed in the trade preview screen before you submit your transaction and may differ for similar transactions. For advanced trading, Coinbase charges a Maker fee ranging from 0.40% to 0.00% and a Taker fee ranging from 0.60% to 0.05%, depending on the size of your order. The larger the order size, the smaller the fee on a percentage basis. Coinbase also offers commission-free USDC trading.
Please note: Do not invest unless you are prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment, and you should not expect to be protected if something goes wrong. Take two minutes to learn more. Cryptoassets are not regulated by the FCA and are not subject to protection under the FSCS or within the scope of jurisdiction of the Financial Ombudsman Service. Capital gains tax may apply to profits from cryptocurrency sales.
CoinJar is a cryptocurrency app and exchange based in the UK and Australia. With CoinJar, you can trade or invest in 50+ cryptocurrencies, including popular coins such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, USD Coin, Dogecoin and Shiba Inu Coin. The CoinJar app, which doubles as a crypto wallet, allows you to buy, sell, hold, spend and transfer cryptocurrencies securely on your desktop, iOS or Android device. The CoinJar card lets you make purchases with your crypto, online and in-store, anywhere Mastercard is accepted. It is free to activate the CoinJar card, and there are no monthly fees for using it. When paying with the card, your crypto is automatically converted to fiat currency using CoinJar’s best rates at the time of the transaction. You can choose to have a virtual or physical card or both. The CoinJar card is fully integrated with Google Pay, so Android users can spend crypto instantly and securely with any device.
CoinJar has a unique feature called a Crypto Bundle. A Crypto Bundle is a themed basket of cryptocurrencies, similar to a crypto index fund, crypto ETF or a ready-made stock portfolio. For example, you can buy a CoinJar Universe bundle, which is a portfolio of all the cryptocurrencies available on CoinJar. One investment into such a bundle means you have invested in every cryptocurrency available on CoinJar with just a click of a button. Crypto Bundles can either be proportional, where the weight of each cryptocurrency in a bundle is equal or cap-allocated, where the weights are allocated based on market cap performance.
CoinJar is suitable for both beginners and advanced traders. Beginners can take advantage of the easy-to-use app and ready-made crypto portfolios, while advanced and professional traders can take advantage of CoinJar’s institutional-grade crypto solutions, such as the CoinJar OTC, with razor-thin spreads and globally sourced liquidity. The minimum deposit to open an account with CoinJar is £10. Deposits are made in GBP, so FX fees do not apply. There is a trading fee of 1% on the CoinJar mobile app and website. The CoinJar Exchange (for market orders and aggressive limit orders) charges 0.00% for Taker orders and 0.10% - 0.04% for Maker orders (limit orders).
Please note: Do not invest unless you are prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment, and you should not expect to be protected if something goes wrong. Take two minutes to learn more. Cryptoassets are not regulated by the FCA and are not subject to protection under the FSCS or within the scope of jurisdiction of the Financial Ombudsman Service. Capital gains tax may apply to profits from cryptocurrency sales.
Uphold is a beginner-friendly cryptocurrency exchange that allows you to buy and sell over 250 cryptocurrencies, including majors, altcoins and emerging tokens such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Dogecoin, Polkadot, ApeCoin, PancakeSwap and Audius. Users can also buy and sell up to 3 national currencies, including GBP, EUR and USD and enjoy competitive forex rates. Uphold offers a free virtual crypto card that allows you to spend your crypto anywhere a Mastercard is accepted. With the Uphold crypto card, you receive up to 1% cashback on your card transactions paid to you in GBP. The card has no transaction fees when spending locally or internationally and can be easily linked to Apple Pay or Google Pay.
As an Uphold customer, you can earn staking rewards when you put your digital assets to work. Currently, customers can earn up to 13% APY. Please keep in mind that staking rates are variable and may change at Uphold’s discretion. Uphold offers crypto wallets for up to seven cryptocurrencies and crypto networks. Customers can store their crypto in the Uphold Bitcoin Wallet, Ethereum Wallet, XRP Wallet and many more. With Uphold, you can schedule regular transactions using AutoPilot, which allows you to set up recurring buy or sell orders and reduce the impact of price volatility. As an Uphold customer, you can also take advantage of the limit order feature, which allows you to buy or sell a cryptocurrency at a specified price. Customers can place up to 50 limit orders using one pool of capital.
There are multiple fees involved when trading crypto on Uphold. The most important fees to look out for are trading fees, FX fees, and market spreads. In the UK, US and Europe, Uphold charges a market spread ranging from 0.9% to 1.2% on BTC and ETH. Spreads can be significantly higher for low-liquidity cryptos and tokens such as XRP, ZIL, OXT, UPT, DOGE and others. You will be able to see the total cost of your trade before you place the trade. Uphold charges a withdrawal fee of $3.99 for bank transfers and $2.99 for crypto transfers. Visit Uphold to learn more.
Please note: Do not invest unless you are prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment, and you should not expect to be protected if something goes wrong. Take two minutes to learn more. Cryptoassets are not regulated by the FCA and are not subject to protection under the FSCS or within the scope of jurisdiction of the Financial Ombudsman Service. Capital gains tax may apply to profits from cryptocurrency sales.
Kraken is a crypto exchange that allows you to trade and invest in over 200 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether, XRP, USD Coin, and Litecoin. The platform is robust and will accommodate the needs of both beginners and experienced crypto traders. Beginners or newbie crypto traders can benefit from Kraken’s slick and easy-to-navigate mobile apps, wide range of educational materials, and 24/7 customer support. Advanced traders can take advantage of Kraken Pro, which provides access to spot, margin, futures trading, and staking in an all-in-one powerful interface that boasts low spreads and deep liquidity across markets. Advanced traders can also benefit from Kraken’s risk management tools, including Limit, Market, and Advanced (Stop Loss and Take Profit) Orders, to better manage positions, protect investments and secure profits.
Kraken allows you to earn staking rewards when you put your cryptocurrencies to work. Currently, customers can earn up to 24% in rewards annually by staking digital assets with Kraken. Please keep in mind that this rate is subject to change and compliance with Kraken’s terms and conditions. Additionally, to help customers feel more secure about trading on Kraken, the platform regularly publishes its proof of reserves audits, making it easy for customers to verify that the balances they hold are backed by real assets.
It is entirely free to open an account with Kraken. However, your first trade must be worth at least US$10 (£8). Kraken charges multiple fees depending on the assets you buy and how you choose to trade: If you trade via the mobile app using the basic features, a Maker fee ranging from 0.20% to 0.00% and a Taker fee ranging from 0.26% to 0.001% will apply, depending on the type and size of your order. The larger the order size, the smaller the fee on a percentage basis and vice versa. Other fees such as withdrawal, FX, and instant buy fees may apply.
Please note: Do not invest unless you are prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment, and you should not expect to be protected if something goes wrong. Take two minutes to learn more. Cryptoassets are not regulated by the FCA and are not subject to protection under the FSCS or within the scope of jurisdiction of the Financial Ombudsman Service. Capital gains tax may apply to profits from cryptocurrency sales.
Solana is a blockchain that employs novel approaches to achieve high transaction speeds without sacrificing decentralisation. Solana’s native cryptocurrency is SOL, and it can be used to pay transaction fees and for staking. It also gives holders the right to vote in future upgrades.
While initial work on the project began in 2017, Solana was officially launched in March 2020 by the Solana Foundation, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
Solana is very similar to Ethereum. The key difference is that while Ethereum employs proof of stake to validate transactions on the blockchain, Solana employs both proof of stake and proof of history.
Proof of history was first created by the founders of Solana and serves as a timestamp mechanism to speed up the validation of transactions on the Solana blockchain. Proof of history helps reduce transaction processing times, making the Solana blockchain faster and more cost-effective than its predecessors, Bitcoin and Ethereum.
For context, Solana can process around 50,000 transactions per second - compared to 15 or less for Ethereum (Ethereum is currently being upgraded to ETH2 to address speed and cost issues).
Software engineers can also build and run crypto, DeFi and web3 applications on Solana, just like Ethereum. The transaction processing speed and cost efficiency make Solana more appealing to engineers looking to build products that scale.
Solana is a decentralised blockchain network powered by SOL. It uses a combination of proof-of-stake and proof-of-history consensus mechanisms to validate transactions before they are added to the blockchain.
Like Ethereum, Solana can interact with smart contracts to power various applications and projects in the crypto ecosystem, including dApps, DeFi, Web3, NFT marketplaces, games, decentralised lotteries and much more.
Solana’s proof-of-history consensus mechanism builds timestamps within the blockchain in order to achieve higher processing speeds. Solana can process around 50,000 transactions per second, making its transaction speeds significantly higher than many other popular blockchains. This also results in a lower transaction cost, as a single transaction can cost as low as US$0.0025.
To create a sustainable economy through protocol-based rewards and transaction fees, Solana destroys (or burns) a fixed portion (initially 50%) of each transaction fee paid on its blockchain, with the remaining fee going to the current leader processing the transaction. Additionally, a scheduled global inflation rate provides a source for rewards distributed to validation clients.
Solana is used to pay transaction fees on the Solana blockchain, transfer value from one person to another and interact with smart contracts. These smart contracts power many applications and projects in the crypto ecosystem, including dApps, DeFi, Web3, NFT marketplaces, games, decentralised lotteries and much more.
Another characteristic of Solana is that it mainly targets crypto developers and users interested in a fast and censor-free blockchain, providing an open infrastructure aiming at global adoption.
People choose Solana over other cryptocurrencies and blockchains because of its speed and cost-effectiveness.
To buy Solana in the UK, you’ll need to:
Solana is very similar to Ethereum. The key difference is that while Ethereum 2.0 employs proof of stake to validate transactions on the blockchain, Solana employs both proof-of-stake and proof-of-history consensus mechanisms.
Ethereum 1.0 uses the same technology as Bitcoin: proof of work (or mining), a consensus mechanism used to verify new transactions, add them to the blockchain, and create new tokens.
Additionally, Solana’s transaction speeds are significantly faster than Ethereum’s. Solana can process around 50,000 transactions per second - compared to 15 or less for Ethereum (Ethereum is currently being upgraded to ETH2 to address speed and cost issues).
Solana also charges a lower transaction cost than Ethereum, with transaction costs as low as US$0.0025. However, Ethereum does maintain better transparency records and holds a much larger market cap.
Bitcoin is still the most popular digital currency in the world, with the highest market capitalisation. It is also easily accessible, liquid and transparent. However, like many other cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin’s price is extremely volatile, which poses significant risks to investors. Solana, on the other hand, is not as accessible, liquid or transparent as Bitcoin, which would suggest that it could be even more volatile than Bitcoin. At the time of writing in August 2022, Solana wallets had just been targeted in a multimillion-dollar hack, leaving over 8,000 internet-connected “hot” wallets compromised.
Solana does have some positive features that make it more interesting than Bitcoin, including low transaction costs, fast transaction speeds and blockchain scalability. In the long run, Solana might have some more compelling advantages over Bitcoin, but presently, Bitcoin is the biggest and most popular cryptocurrency.
Solana has advantages over Ethereum, such as transaction speed and low transaction costs derived from its innovative blockchain technology, proof of history. This, combined with a drastic increase in community size and software engineers utilising Solana, makes Solana a more relevant cryptocurrency and blockchain.
However, Ethereum launched in 2015, considerably earlier than Solana. This makes it difficult for Solana to compete with the network effects and number of partners and projects Ethereum has. There is a possibility that Solana will surpass Ethereum if the blockchain’s capability continues to develop. However, this will likely only happen in the long run.
Cardano is a top cryptocurrency project utilising the proof-of-stake validation mechanism. Its native token is ADA. Founded in 2017 by former Ethereum co-founders, Cardano also has unique blockchain innovations that make it a worthy competitor for Solana. The Ouroboros proof-of-stake mechanism used by Cardano delegates the validation power to ADA holders, who are rewarded for delegating their tokens to the validation network. This is similar to what Solana is doing as well.
Just like Solana, Cardano is also known for its low processing times and low transaction cost. Both Cardano and Solana have realised a more than 400 times return since they were launched. However, Solana was launched at least two years after Cardano. Cardano is more decentralised than Solana, with a better security record, while Solana has suffered at least six outages since its launch. Overall, Cardano and Solana are both ambitious projects, and investors should decide on which project to invest in depending on their preferences and after thorough research of both cryptocurrencies.
Yes, you can buy Solana with your GBP debit or credit card via a cryptocurrency exchange, such as eToro, Coinbase, or CoinJar.
In April 2020, the price of SOL was just £0.62. By November 2021, SOL had reached an all-time high of £192. As of the time of writing in March 2024, the price of SOL had dropped to £114.69. The current price of Solana can be found on CoinMarketCap.
The Solana blockchain is a decentralised blockchain network powered by SOL. It uses a combination of proof-of-stake and proof-of-history consensus mechanisms to validate transactions before they are added to the blockchain.
Like Ethereum, Solana can interact with smart contracts to power a wide range of applications and projects in the crypto ecosystem, including dApps, DeFi, Web3, NFT marketplaces, games, decentralised lotteries and much more.
As with most cryptocurrencies, Solana uses cryptographic technology, making it more secure than standard debit or credit card transactions. However, there are some risks involved with SOL transactions. For example, SOL wallets are not necessarily anonymous, and they rely on passwords that, once lost, can never be recovered.
Here are the best places to buy Solana (SOL) in the UK:
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