TLDR
- Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko apologized for a controversial advertisement that targeted marginalized groups
- The ad titled “America is Back — Time to Accelerate” was criticized for injecting political discourse into crypto
- The video depicted the US struggling with gender identity discussions rather than focusing on tech advancement
- Solana Foundation deleted the video after 9 hours, but it had already received over 1 million views
- Critics pointed out that transgender developers have made valuable contributions to open-source cryptography
Solana Labs co-founder and CEO Anatoly Yakovenko has issued an apology following intense criticism over a promotional video that many viewed as targeting marginalized groups. The advertisement, which was posted on March 17, 2025, blended American patriotism with messaging that many found offensive to the transgender community.
The video titled “America is Back — Time to Accelerate” depicted the United States as a man in therapy who expressed frustration about being unable to focus on technological advancements like cryptocurrency and space travel. Instead, the character complained about societal discussions on pronouns and gender identity.
In the two-and-a-half-minute video promoting the Solana Accelerate conference, the therapist suggested the man should do “something more productive, like coming up with a new gender” and later advised him to “focus on pronouns.” The character responded that he wanted “to invent technologies, not genders.”
The ad was posted on Solana’s social media accounts where it quickly garnered attention. Before being removed approximately nine hours after its release, the video had already accumulated around 1.2 million views and 1,300 comments.
On March 19, Yakovenko broke his silence on the matter with a public statement.
“The ad was bad, and it’s still gnawing at my soul,” he wrote. “I am ashamed I downplayed it instead of just calling it what it is – mean and punching down on a marginalized group.”
The Solana co-founder expressed gratitude toward members of the ecosystem who immediately called out the problematic content.
“I am grateful for the ecosystem devs and artists that immediately called it what it is both publicly and privately. You are the only silver lining to this whole mess,” he stated.
Yakovenko committed to keeping the Solana Foundation focused on its core mission moving forward. He pledged to ensure the organization remains dedicated to decentralization and open-source software development rather than engaging in cultural debates.
Critics of the advertisement included Andrew Thurman of the Jito Foundation, which runs the largest project by total value locked on Solana. Thurman emphasized the need for neutrality in blockchain projects.
Adam Cochran, partner at Cinneamhain Ventures, questioned how the ad could have passed through multiple approval stages without raising concerns. He noted that transgender developers have made important contributions to open-source cryptography and security software.
Took them 9 hours to delete it.
Also all the major players in the Solana ecosystem suddenly delete their tweets promoting/supporting the ad and RT’d and liked takes about it being bad.
They approved this, supported it and celebrated it.
They rolled it back because it hurt… pic.twitter.com/kPMERDpTcn
— Adam Cochran (adamscochran.eth) (@adamscochran) March 18, 2025
Cochran pointed out that transgender people contribute to open-source software and cryptography in “an insanely disproportionate amount.” A GitHub survey from 2017 found that of 5,500 randomly selected open-source developers, 1% were transgender and another 1% were non-binary.
This statistic is worth noting when compared to general population estimates. Most data from 2017 and 2018 suggested that transgender and non-binary people combined represented between 0.1% and 0.6% of the population.
The controversy came just nine days after Solana’s social media account had posted “Solana is for everyone,” creating what many viewed as a contradiction in messaging.
Following the backlash, Solana Foundation Vice President of Technology Matt Sorg provided some context about the ad’s production. He explained that only a few individuals were involved in creating the video.
Sorg clarified that most of the production process had been outsourced to external teams. He emphasized that the advertisement did not represent the views of the broader Solana community.
As of March 19, the Solana Foundation itself had not made an official statement about the controversy. However, its social media account did reshare Yakovenko’s apology to its 3.3 million followers.
The incident has prompted discussions about inclusivity within the cryptocurrency space. Many community members have called for greater awareness of diversity issues and more careful consideration of messaging in future promotional materials.
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