Solana co-founder: 'To keep the next great American founder in America, Congress must regulate crypto. But first lawmakers should learn how it works' (2024)

I was born under Soviet rule in modern-day Ukraine. We moved to America when I was 11. Even at that age, I was very aware of the differences between the place I grew up–where access to assets and information was controlled with an iron fist–and my new home–where opportunity was unbound.

I wanted to become an engineer and build big, ambitious projects. So, I studied computer science and spent over a decade building global networks at Qualcomm. A few years ago, I took the plunge as an entrepreneur myself and helped launch a project called Solana, a blockchain built for global accessibility. I want everyone in the world to have equal access to an open, interoperable global network, one that no single person or entity can shut down.

Today, a new generation of thousands of blockchain developers are diving into their own entrepreneurial journeys. Many of them are taking on ambitious projects, competing against today’s corporate giants. They’re building user-owned wireless networks, ridesharing networks, food delivery services, and social platforms to someday compete with Comcast, Google, Uber, and Facebook. Many are in the United States. Increasingly, many are not.

I meet promising entrepreneurs every day who want to build the next great technological innovation in America but don’t know how to build a blockchain company in a compliant way. For typical startups, the first step is incorporating your company for less than $500 on LegalZoom. For blockchain companies, it means pouring precious amounts of time, energy, and often tens of thousands of dollars into legal fees trying to structure their businesses to operate in a compliant manner. It’s well-documented that there’s no viable path to reasonable regulatory certainty in the space. For young entrepreneurs, the absence of clear rules is terrifying. They see public, multi-billion dollar companies struggle to navigate the legal landscape, and wonder how their tiny project will survive.

Faced with the choice of staying in America or building their dream, more founders are choosing to leave. In 2018, the U.S. was home to 42% of the world’s open-source blockchain developers, according to Electric Capital. By 2022, that figure dropped to 29%.

As with any new technology, there have been scams in the digital asset space, and we should do everything possible to eliminate them. But a well-functioning economy shouldn’t punish an entire industry for the actions of its worst elements. Many of us are here because we want to create real value–and we want American values at the foundation of the world’s most impactful companies. Imagine if Google had been founded in Russia, or Reddit had been founded in China. How different would the internet look today? For the U.S. to attract and retain the very best talent in the new digital landscape, we need a cogent regulatory framework that protects consumers and encourages entrepreneurship.

In addition to clarity being provided in the courts, two Congressional committees advanced key pieces of legislation in July that would create regulatory frameworks for digital assets and stablecoins on a bipartisan basis. This fall, the full House will have the opportunity to vote on these two bills.

The bills aren’t perfect. No legislation is. As a country and as an industry, we cannot let perfect be the enemy of the good. Congress must continue stewarding these efforts to protect American technological leadership, provide important market protections, and promote a free and open internet. I applaud the efforts of members from both parties to move these bills forward, and I hope legislators across both chambers will take these proposals seriously, work to improve them, and turn them into law.

Beyond legislation, our government should be at the forefront of investing in blockchain research and development. Some of the most meaningful technologies on earth–GPS, rockets, and even the internet–were initially incubated by the U.S. government. European and Asian governments are already investing in blockchain. The European Commission even runs a digital ledger sandbox to identify potential private-public partnerships. We should do the same.

Policymakers need to experiment with the technology themselves. Ethics rules prohibit most government officials who regulate digital assets from using them.This makes it tough to craft good policy: Imagine trying to regulate social media without having ever opened Facebook!

There are creative solutions that give policymakers access to the technology. For example, the government could take advantage of crypto’s speed and cost-effectiveness to send humanitarian relief funds and launch decentralized communications networks in low-connectivity areas.

There are hundreds of ways that the U.S. government can encourage this new wave of the internet and support brilliant blockchain entrepreneurs. I welcome an open conversation with policymakers about web3, its potential, and yes, its pitfalls. Let’s keep builders building in America.

Anatoly Yakovenko is a cofounder of Solana and the CEO of Solana Labs. The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs ofFortune.

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Solana co-founder: 'To keep the next great American founder in America, Congress must regulate crypto. But first lawmakers should learn how it works' (2024)

FAQs

How much is Solana co-founder worth? ›

Net Worth: How Rich Is Anatoly Yakovenko? As of 2023, Anatoly Yakovenko had a net worth of approximately $69 million. However, this has since multiplied, with his net worth now closer to $500 million.

Who is the co-founder of Solana Labs? ›

Anatoly Yakovenko is the co-founder of Solana and CEO of Solana Labs. He has almost two decades of experience building high-performance operating systems, including leading OS development at Qualcomm and holding engineering roles at Dropbox and Mesosphere.

Who is the CEO of Solana company? ›

Anatoly Yakovenko is Co-Founder and CEO of Solana. He has over 10 years of experience in developing high-performance operating systems, and is a world-class underwater hockey player.

What is the origin of Solana? ›

Solana's origins date back to late 2017 when Anatoly Yakovenko published a whitepaper draft detailing a new timekeeping technique for distributed systems called Proof-of-History (PoH), a method to automate blockchain transaction ordering to deliver fast transaction speeds and settlement times.

Who owns the most Solana? ›

Who owns solana? As of 9 January, the three biggest SOL holders were anonymous wallets each owning 1.86%, 0.93% and 0.93% of the total supply respectively. It was also speculated that Alameda Research, sister hedge fund of FTX crypto exchange, reportedly held over $1.19 billion SOL tokens.

How many people have Solana? ›

The number of addresses that actively sent or received Solana coins on the blockchain grew by over 25,000 between October and November 2021. Reaching well over two million addresses for the month of November, the graphic reveals that network activity was at its highest recorded level since the start of 2021.

Is Solana better than Ethereum? ›

Solana offers a significantly higher transaction speed (2,600 transactions per second) compared to Ethereum (15 transactions per second), enhancing the user experience with faster and more efficient transactions.

Who controls Solana? ›

The CEO of Solana Labs is Anatoly Yakovenko, who also doubles as the company's co-founder.

How does Solana make money? ›

The value of Solana's native SOL cryptocurrency is derived from its utility. SOL can be used to secure the network through staking, either as a validator node or a delegator. This is a profitable choice for SOL holders as stakers receive half of transaction fees and most of the emission of new tokens.

Did Solana make millionaires? ›

The Solana (SOL) trader who made millions by accumulating SOL when it was worth less than $5 says investing in the ETFSwap (ETFS) token selling for just $0.01831 is a way to get rich this year.

Who are behind Solana? ›

Its native cryptocurrency is SOL. Solana was launched in 2020 by Solana Labs, which was founded by Anatoly Yakovenko and Raj Gokal in 2018.

Who funded Solana? ›

Who are Solana's investors? Solana has 91 institutional investors including a16z, Polychain and Multicoin Capital.

Is Solana the next Ethereum? ›

The primary reason to invest in Solana right now is that it could eventually become the next Ethereum (ETH 0.21%). Solana is a direct challenger to Ethereum in the Layer 1 blockchain space, and has been steadily gaining ground in every major niche, from decentralized finance (DeFi) to non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Why is Solana so popular? ›

One of the key drivers behind Solana's dominance is its pivotal role in the decentralized finance (DeFi) landscape. With its lightning-fast transaction speeds and low fees, Solana has become the go-to platform for DeFi projects seeking to revolutionize the traditional financial system.

What problem does Solana solve? ›

Founded in 2017 by Anatoly Yakovenko, Solana's primary aim is to tackle one of the most daunting challenges in the blockchain world: scalability.

How much is Solana company worth? ›

The live price of Solana is $ 146.47 per (SOL / USD) with a current market cap of $ 68.38B USD. 24-hour trading volume is $ 2.21B USD. SOL to USD price is updated in real-time. Solana is +0.32% in the last 24 hours with a circulating supply of 466.84M.

How much is anatoly worth? ›

What is Anatoly Yakovenko's net worth in 2023? According to numerous online publications, Anatoly Yakovenko has an estimated net worth of $200 million. However, some sources claim the Ukrainian-born software engineer could have a billion-dollar net worth, although the veracity of these claims is questionable.

Who is behind Solana Foundation? ›

Solana is a blockchain platform which uses a proof-of-stake mechanism to provide smart contract functionality. Its native cryptocurrency is SOL. Solana was launched in 2020 by Solana Labs, which was founded by Anatoly Yakovenko and Raj Gokal in 2018.

Who is the owner of Solana account? ›

By default, all new accounts are owned by the System Program. The System Program performs several key tasks such as: New Account Creation: Only the System Program can create new accounts. Space Allocation: Sets the byte capacity for the data field of each account.

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