Solana
Solana's CEO has broken his silence following backlash over an Accelerate ad released and subsequently deleted earlier this week. Solana Twitter Video/Screenshot

KEY POINTS

  • The ad featured gender identity -- a touchy topic for many people, especially in crypto, where freedom was supposed to be king
  • Analyst Adam Cochran was among the crypto figures who called out Solana for suggesting that gender "gets in the way of innovation"
  • Yakovenko said he was "ashamed" of initially downplaying the ad that he said was hitting a "marginalized group" hard
  • Brian Armstrong and other crypto leaders have expressed support for the Solana CEO after he promised to do better

The team behind the Solana blockchain was under fire in recent days following the release of an ad for its Accelerate conference.

However, instead of getting more people to talk about the event, it divided the cryptocurrency community over the politicized tropes featured in the ad.

Solana Labs CEO Anatoly Yakovenko has since broken his silence on the "America Is Back – Time to Accelerate" advertisement that seemed to attack gender topics by combining tech innovation with American patriotism.

Solana faces backlash over accelerate ad

When Solana released the ad earlier this week, analyst Adam Cochran was among the prominent crypto figures who called out the team, saying that it only deleted the commercial "because it hurt their business, not because they thought it was wrong."

"Do you not realize the insanely disproportionate amount of trans devs (developers) who contribute to open source, cryptography, security and intelligence software?" Cochran said in a follow-up post.

Cochran specifically took issue with how the ad seemed to suggest that gender "gets in the way of innovation," and many others had the same sentiments.

One user pointed out how blockchain and crypto was supposed to be about freedom, but the ad "sets the opposite interpretation."

Another user re-posted a June 2020 post from Solana wherein the team said it stands with equality, "regardless of race or gender."

One user suggested that Solana was trying to "get a retweet by this platform owner," referring to Elon Musk, who, like President Donald Trump, was vocally harsh against the LGBTQ+ community.

Several other crypto holders blasted the entire Solana team for allowing the ad to go live, saying the commercial should have been rejected immediately when the idea was proposed as it was offensive and "lacks creativity and purpose."

Solana CEO "ashamed" of downplaying backlash

Yakovenko took to X late Wednesday to say the ad was bad and was "still gnawing" at his soul.

"I am ashamed I downplayed it instead of just calling it what it is – mean and punching down on a marginalized group," he said.

He then thanked developers and artists within the crypto ecosystem who "called it what it is both publicly and privately," saying the people who stood up against the ad were "the only silver lining to this whole mess."

He pledged to improve the Solana ecosystem and promised to make sure it focuses on its mission and keep it "out of culture wars."

Some crypto leaders have since rallied around Yakovenko, including Coinbase protocol specialist Viktor Bunin, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, the VTOPIA team, Kyzer Ricoy, and Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley.

Andy, a well-followed figure in crypto, said he was looking forward to how Solana will improve its messaging through lessons learned from the debacle.

Solana has risen to become one of the formidable blockchain ecosystems in the space, especially in 2024, when it became the memecoin center in crypto. SOL, the network's native crypto asset, has consistently been in top 10 lists of the world's most valuable cryptocurrencies over the last few years.

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