What Happened?
Recently, Solana released a controversial advertisement that depicted a conversation mocking the United States for focusing on gender identity issues rather than prioritizing technological innovation.
Solana Labs founder Anatoly Yakovenko later expressed his shame, acknowledging that the ad had caused harm and disrespect to certain groups.
Industry professionals pointed out that transgender developers have made significant contributions to open-source cryptography and security software, asserting that the Solana ad overlooked the excellent abilities of these groups.
Apology from Solana Labs Founder Regarding the Controversial Ad
Recently, Solana Labs founder Anatoly Yakovenko made a statement on X regarding the controversial ad released by the company. He expressed deep regret and admitted that the ad was very unfriendly to marginalized groups.
In his post, he thanked the developers and artists within the Solana community who immediately pointed out the issue, noting that they were the only aspect of this controversy worth being grateful for.
The controversial ad, titled “America Is Back — Time to Accelerate,” featured the United States personified as a man undergoing counseling. The conversation mocked how the country, over time, has focused on gender identity and pronoun issues instead of focusing on innovations such as AI and cryptocurrency.
Following its release, the ad quickly sparked criticism both inside and outside the cryptocurrency industry. The video was eventually removed 9 hours later, although during that time, it had already garnered over a million views.
The ad was bad, and it’s still gnawing at my soul. I am ashamed I downplayed it instead of just calling it what it is – mean and punching down on a marginalized group. I am grateful for the ecosystem devs and artists that immediately called it what it is both publicly and… — toly (@aeyakovenko) March 19, 2025
Commitment to Focus on Decentralization Mission, Away from Culture Wars
Solana Foundation Vice President Matt Sorg later pointed out that only a few people were involved in the production process of this ad, with most of the work being outsourced to an external team. He emphasized that the ad did not represent the values of the Solana community.
Andrew Thurman, founder of Jito Foundation—the infrastructure project with the highest total value locked in the Solana ecosystem—stated that for a blockchain project, maintaining a neutral stance is crucial.
According to a report by Cointelegraph, in 2017, GitHub randomly surveyed 5,500 open-source developers and found that 1% were transgender, and another 1% were non-binary. Other data collected from 2017 and 2018 showed that transgender and non-binary people made up around 0.1% to 0.6% of the overall population.
Adam Cochran, a partner at venture capital firm Cinneamhain Ventures, pointed out that transgender developers have made significant contributions to open-source cryptography and security software, arguing that Solana’s ad overlooked the talents of these groups.
Yakovenko concluded his post on X with a promise, saying, “I will do everything I can to ensure that the Solana Foundation stays focused on its mission of decentralization and open-source software development, and steers clear of culture wars.”
Source: Cointelegraph, CryptoSlate