“Solana’s Shame: A CEO’s Mea Culpa”
It appears that Solana Labs CEO Anatoly Yakovenko has finally found his voice, albeit a bit belatedly, to address the controversy surrounding the “America Is Back — Time to Accelerate” advertisement. The said advertisement, which blended patriotism with a rather…unfortunate…take on gender identity, has left a sour taste in the mouths of many.
Yakovenko’s mea culpa, posted on X, reads: “The ad was bad, and it’s still gnawing at my soul.” Ah, the agony of being associated with something so… distasteful. One can almost feel the weight of his shame.
“I am ashamed I downplayed it instead of just calling it what it is – mean and punching down on a marginalized group.”
Yakovenko’s apology is a welcome respite from the initial backlash, but one cannot help but wonder why it took him so long to speak out. Perhaps he was too busy basking in the glow of his company’s…ahem…ill-conceived advertising efforts?
It’s heartening to see that some members of the Solana ecosystem have called out the ad for what it was: a mess. One can only hope that Yakovenko and his team will take this opportunity to learn from their mistakes and focus on what truly matters: open-source software development and decentralization.
Solana’s X account, which had initially shared the ad to its 3.3 million followers, has since reshared Yakovenko’s apology post. One can only hope that this marks the beginning of a new era of sensitivity and awareness within the company.
CryptoMoon reached out to the Solana Foundation for comment, but alas, their response was as elusive as a unicorn’s tears.
The now-deleted ad, which showcased a man acting as America in a therapy session, was a masterclass in tone-deafness. One can only imagine the creative team behind it thinking, “Yes, this is a great idea! Let’s make fun of people who identify as transgender!” 🙄
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…
— Adam Cochran (adamscochran.eth) (@adamscochran) March 18, 2025
Cinneamhain Ventures partner Adam Cochran pointed out that transgender people contribute to open-source software and cryptography in an “insanely disproportionate amount.” Ah, the irony. It seems that Solana’s attempt to be inclusive was, in fact, a rather…exclusive…effort.
A GitHub survey from 2017 found that of the 5,500 randomly selected open-source developers, 1% were transgender, and another 1% were non-binary. One can only hope that Solana will take this opportunity to learn from their mistakes and create a more inclusive environment for all.
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2025-03-20 04:02