CEO of Solana Labs: "I am ashamed"

Anatoly Yakovenko, co-founder of Solana, has spoken out about the much-discussed advertising campaign "America Is Back - Time to Accelerate." The commercial, which ridiculed political topics such as gender identity, led to a storm of criticism.

Yakovenko praised members of the Solana ecosystem who denounced the "mess." The video, which received 1.2 million views and 1,300 comments within a short time, was removed about nine hours after it was published.

Yakovenko stressed that in the future he will see to it that Solana remains focused on open-source software and decentralization, and does not get drawn into cultural conflicts.

Although Solana herself did not issue an official statement, the official X account did share Yakovenko's post.

The controversial commercial

The two-and-a-half-minute video, released to promote the Solana Accelerate conference, showed a man in a therapy session. He was portrayed as a personification of America and said he was thinking about innovation, such as cryptocurrencies and AI.

His therapist responded by saying he had better "do something more productive, like invent a new gender" and "focus on pronouns." The man then verbally hit back, which many interpreted as an attack on progressive values.

Criticism from the crypto community

The advertisement hit extra hard because just nine days earlier Solana had posted, "Solana is here for everyone." This led to disappointment for many involved, including Adam Cochran, partner at the investment firm Cinneamhain Ventures.

Cochran pointed out that transgender individuals make extraordinary contributions to open-source software and cryptography. He added:

"What made these communities so great was that it was always about: 'It doesn't matter who you are, it matters what you do.'"