TLDR
- The co-founder of Solana Labs offered a heartfelt apology for an ad criticized as offensive to certain groups.
- The ad titled 'America is Back — Time to Accelerate' was accused of fostering divisive political sentiments concerning gender.
- Despite being removed in under a day, the ad had already amassed a vast audience with over a million views.
- Yakovenko pledged that Solana's main pursuits would remain decentralization and technological development, avoiding distracting cultural conflicts.
- Critics highlighted that transgender professionals have greatly influenced fields like cryptography and open-source projects.
After an advertisement perceived as injurious to minority groups faced backlash, Solana's CEO responded with an apology, invigorating dialogue about diversity in the crypto world.
Titled 'America is Back — Time to Accelerate,' the ad intended to spark interest in an upcoming conference by presenting the U.S. as a person in therapy focused on cryptocurrencies rather than societal matters.
During a two-and-a-half-minute clip, a therapist recommended trivial pursuits such as 'inventing new genders' to a character who preferred tech innovation.
The ad was quickly condemned for introducing political arguments into the crypto industry, especially after a recent social media statement that declared 'Solana is for everyone.'
Solana’s team removed the ad within nine hours, but by then, it had already hit over a million views and gathered thousands of comments.
On March 19, via social media, Yakovenko expressed regret, referring to the ad as damaging and unsettling to him personally.
Reflecting on the situation, Yakovenko voiced remorse for initially understating the severity of the ad's negative impact.
— toly 🇺🇸 (@aeyakovenko) March 19, 2025
Gratitude was extended by Yakovenko to some Solana community members who rapidly identified and addressed the ad issues.
In the wake of widespread criticism, Matt Sorg of Solana Foundation shared insights on the ad's production, noting limited input from internal staff.
Sorg clarified that the majority of the ad's creation was handled externally, and did not reflect the diverse views within Solana’s community.
Dissecting how the Industry Reacted and Adjusted
The incident fueled discussions about the diverse contributions within blockchain ecosystems, with leaders noting significant inputs from transgender developers.
Cochran remarked that the ad ignored the industry's merit-based contributions and highlighted disproportionate involvement from transgender technologists.
Major entities within the Solana ecosystem distanced themselves from the ad by deleting related supportive posts.
Took them 9 hours to delete it.
This was initially endorsed, but subsequent public sentiment led to reconsideration.
— Adam Cochran (@adamscochran.eth) voiced these observations through social media.
They rolled it back because it hurt… pic.twitter.com/kPMERDpTcn
A Github survey from 2017 supports these assertions, identifying a meaningful representation of transgender and non-binary contributors within open-source communities. March 18, 2025
Yakovenko promised to focus Solana on core objectives like decentralization, steering clear of socio-cultural debates.
Learning from this experience, Yakovenko vowed to prioritize technical pursuits over cultural controversies.
As of March 19, Solana Foundation had not released an official stance, but shared Yakovenko's apology to their large social media audience.
Interestingly, Solana’s cryptocurrency has shown strong market performance, with an 8% rise amidst market recovery.
Maisie is a seasoned reporter in Crypto & Finance news, with contributions to major outlets and serving as the Editor in Chief at Blockfresh.com.
