Solana Labs co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko has broken his silence about a raging controversy surrounding a deleted Solana ad aimed to promote the firm’s upcoming Accelerate Conference that has come under harsh criticism for negatively portraying gender issues.
According to a statement on his social media X platform handle, Anatoly Yakovenko said he was ashamed of the ad, which he called terrible, and that it was still gnawing at his soul.
Regret Tone-Deaf Approach
Expressing his gratitude to those who called out the now-deleted Solana ad, the firm’s founder regretted the tone-deaf approach the ad gave toward gender identity. The incident has had investors and users questioning the impact the now-deleted ad will have on the project’s image. Writing on his X handle, he said:
“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’ll do whatever I can to make sure Solana Foundation stays focused on its mission of decentralization and open source software development, and out of culture wars.”
Character Called America
Even as Anatoly Yakovenko went on to try and cool down the fury aroused by a marketing misstep, the Foundation has remained silent about the now-deleted Solana ad. It hasn’t issued a public statement since Monday. The video of the now-deleted Solana ad was posted on March 17, depicting a man in therapy struggling to focus on technological advancements like crypto and space travel due to societal discussions on pronouns and gender identity. Many viewers considered the ad that presented a character called “America” provocative since it spoke of ideas of invention during a therapy session.
Too Little, Too Late
The character concluded the ad by saying he would “invent technologies, not genders,” which many viewers considered sexist and an awkward response to the present culture and political correctness. No sooner had the ad surfaced online than people within the crypto space expressed their utter disgust on social media. Most critics of the deleted Solana ad found it vulgar and insensitive toward some of society’s vices.
Sadly, by the time the company reacted and pulled down the video, it was too little too late because over one million social media users had already seen the viral ad. Viewers condemned the firm’s marketing team for injecting political discourse into the crypto space. Jito Foundation’s Andrew Thurman is the entity behind the project, emphasizing neutrality in blockchain projects.
Conclusion
Ironically, the now-deleted Solana ad came nine days after the firm’s X account said, “Solana is for everyone.” By the time of writing, the Foundation’s X account had re-shared the apology by co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko, who boasts over 3.3 million followers. In addition to the apology, Yakovenko said the Foundation remains focused on its core mission of decentralization and not cultural debates; only time will tell whether his apology will suffice.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is Solana?
Solana is a top-tier blockchain famous for its speed and scalability. It enables fast and cost-effective decentralized applications (DApps).
How fast are transactions on the Solana blockchain?
Solana is one of the fastest blockchains — its consensus mechanism can handle up to 65,000 transactions per second.
How does Solana impact traditional finance and institutions?
Solana allows the tokenization of assets, a new and already popular trend in the market. The ecosystem is fast, efficient, and offers lower-cost transactions, making it stand apart from traditional instruments. The project partnered with big companies such as Visa.
What are Solana’s current use cases?
Solana is best equipped to handle use cases in data storage and powering high-speed transactions. It is most famously used for non-fungible tokens (NFTs), NFT marketplaces, and blockchain gaming.
Appendix: Glossary for Key Terms
Solana: A high-performance blockchain platform designed to build decentralized applications (DApps) that offer fast, scalable, and cost-effective solutions.
Scalability: The ability of a network to handle a growing number of transactions and users without compromising performance.
Blockchain: The technology that records transactions in a secure, transparent, and decentralized manner, forming the backbone for cryptocurrencies.
References
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