Solana Labs CEO Anatoly Yakovenko has broken his silence over the controversial “America Is Back — Time to Accelerate” Solana ad.
The advert received huge backlash because it contained political messaging regarding gender identity. Yakovenko took to X late yesterday (March 19), saying, “The ad was bad, and it’s still gnawing at my soul.”
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
Controversial Solana Ad Stayed Up For Nine Hours And Amassed Over 1.2 Million Views
Yakovenko praised those in the Solana ecosystem who called out the “mess” that was posted on Solana’s X account. The post accumulated around 1.2 million views and 1,300 comments before it was deleted roughly nine hours later.
The CEO of Solana Labs said he will use the learning experience to ensure Solana stays focused on open-source software development and decentralization while staying firmly “out of cultural wars.”
Solana hasn’t made an official comment on the matter, though its X account reshared Yakovenko’s post to its 3.3 million followers. However, the report of Anatoly’s statement likely means that the Solana Foundation agrees with his message.
The now-deleted two-minute ad for the Solana Accelerate conference showed a man acting as America in a therapy session who said he was thinking “about innovation” such as crypto.
In response, the therapist then responded that he should instead do “something more productive, like coming up with a new gender”, going on to say the man should “focus on pronouns.”
The man snapped back, stating he wanted “to invent technologies, not genders.” The controversial Solana ad came nine days after Solana’s X account posted: “Solana is for everyone.”
Judging by the backlash to the ad and the “Solana is for everyone” post, it has come as a slight surprise due to the crypto community being seen as holding more traditionalist views and not caring for the left-wings obsession over gender ideology.
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SOL Still In The Green Even With The Advertisement Backlash
The whole crypto market has bounced positively on the back of this weeks FOMC meeting where it was stated there will be no change to current BPS rates. However, many expected SOL to crash following the backlash of the now-deleted ad.
This hasn’t been the case and SOL is up around 2.5% over the past 24 hours. It is holding steady at around $130 and looks primed to push on to its next resistance level of $150.
Its bullish momentum is being helped along by the news of a Solana ETF launching today (March 20). While not a spot ETF, Florida-based Volatility Shares LLC is launching funds to track SOL futures.
( SOURCE )
The Volatility Shares Solana ETF (ticker SOLZ) will track Solana futures, while the Volatility Shares 2X Solana ETF (SOLT) will offer twice the leveraged exposure.
Volatility Shares LLC is a start-up ETF firm, and its CEO Justin Young said, “Our launch comes at a time of renewed optimism for cryptocurrency innovation in the US. We believe the Trump administration recognizes the strategic importance of maintaining American leadership in financial technology.”
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Solana Labs CEO Anatoly Yakovenko issues apology for the controversial ad
- The advert has since been deleted but was labelled as bigoted toward the trans community
- The price of SOL hasn’t been effected and is up 2% on the day
- SOL price momentum being kept up due to two Solana futures ETFs launching today (March 20)
