What Happened: The Solana blockchain is reportedly raising between $300 and $450 million as it works on expanding network functionality to potentially challenge Ethereum.

According to a report from Decrypt, multiple sources confirmed the investment, which was originally intended to be “a smaller round” but was expanded due to high demand.

Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) is backed by FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, and his trading firm Alameda Research has been actively investing in the platform since its early days.

"I'm excited and impressed to see the recent growth of Solana's business. They've had industry-leading tech for a while, and it's gratifying to see reality catching up," said Sam Bankman-Fried to Decrypt.

The project has previously raised $21.8 million, according to Crunchbase, which included a $20 million Series A led by Multicoin Capital in 2019.

See also: How to Buy Solana (SOL)

Why It Matters: Solana is positioned as an “Ethereum Killer” because of its speed and cost-effectiveness compared to Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH).

The blockchain claims its maximum throughput is more than 50,000 transactions per second, whereas Ethereum averages between 10 and 15 transactions per second.

Solana’s existing Proof-of-Stake model also means that users of the network aren’t subject to soaring gas fees as they are on the Ethereum network.

Read also: Solana Says Scaling As 'One Global State' Sets It Apart From Ethereum, Polkadot, Other Rivals and How to Buy Solana

“Solana is different from other scaling implementations like Ethereum 2.0, Polkadot, etc. in that it scales as one global state, rather than relying on fragmented Layer 2 systems or sharding to increase throughput,” said Raj Gokal, Solana’s co-founder and chief operating officer, to Benzinga exclusively.

Price Action: In light of the network’s rise in popularity, Solana’s native cryptocurrency token SOL has surged in value since the beginning of the year.

SOL had returned 3766% year-to-date, reaching a high of $58.30 before the market-wide crypto crash on May 19.

Still, SOL has posted one of the strongest recoveries since, gaining 95% since it fell to a low of $19.14 a few weeks ago.

At press time, the cryptocurrency was trading at $43.46 with a daily trading volume of $900 million.