What Happened?
Solana recently released a controversial advertisement that mocked the United States for focusing on gender identity issues rather than technological innovation, as depicted in the dialogue of the video.
Solana Labs founder Anatoly Yakovenko later expressed his shame and acknowledged that the advertisement had harmed and disrespected specific communities.
Industry players pointed out that transgender developers have made significant contributions to the open-source cryptography and security software fields, arguing that Solana’s advertisement overlooked the excellence of these groups.
Apology from Solana Labs Founder Regarding Controversial Ad
Recently, Solana Labs founder Anatoly Yakovenko issued a statement on X, apologizing for the controversial advertisement released by the company. He expressed deep regret and admitted that the ad was extremely unfriendly to marginalized groups.
In his post, he thanked the developers and artists within the Solana community who immediately pointed out the issue, stating that they were the only part of the incident worth being grateful for.
The controversial advertisement, titled “America Is Back — Time to Accelerate,” featured the personification of the United States as a man undergoing counseling. The dialogue mocked how the country has long been distracted by issues of gender identity and pronouns, preventing it from focusing on innovations like AI and cryptocurrency.
After the ad was released, it immediately sparked criticism from both inside and outside the cryptocurrency industry, leading to its removal within 9 hours. However, during this period, the video had already attracted 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 and Avoid Cultural Wars
Solana Foundation Vice President Matt Sorg later pointed out that only a few people were involved in the ad’s production, and most of the process was outsourced to external teams. He emphasized that this advertisement did not represent the values of the Solana community.
Andrew Thurman, founder of Jito Foundation, the largest infrastructure project in Solana’s ecosystem by total locked value, stated that it is essential for blockchain projects to maintain a neutral stance.
According to a report by Cointelegraph, in 2017, GitHub randomly selected 5,500 open-source developers for a survey, finding that 1% were transgender and another 1% were non-binary. Additional data collected from 2017 and 2018 showed that transgender and non-binary individuals represented about 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, and he believes Solana’s ad overlooked the talents of these groups.
In his final post on X, Yakovenko committed, “I will do my best to ensure that the Solana Foundation stays focused on the mission of decentralization and open-source software development, and steers clear of cultural wars.”
Source: Cointelegraph, CryptoSlate