The team behind the blockchain network Solana has removed a contentious advertisement from its social media account following significant criticism regarding its political messaging surrounding gender identity.
The advertisement, lasting over two and a half minutes, was released on March 17 to promote the Solana Accelerate conference. Titled “America is back. Time to Accelerate,” it featured a male character representing “America” in a therapy session, where he expressed thoughts about “innovation” including cryptocurrency.
In response, the therapist suggested he should engage in “something more productive, like coming up with a new gender” and later recommended he pay attention to “pronouns.”
As their discussion progresses, the man becomes agitated and delivers a passionate monologue, accompanied by stirring patriotic music, proclaiming his desire to “build onchain and reclaim my place as the beacon of innovation” and to “invent technologies, not genders,” seemingly mocking progressive ideals.
Before the ad was taken down, it had garnered over 1.2 million views and attracted 1,300 comments as well as 1,400 shares, with most reactions criticizing its trivialization of gender identity and its approach to a highly divisive political topic.
“It took them 9 hours to remove it,” remarked Cinneamhain Ventures partner Adam Cochran, noting that many within the Solana ecosystem quickly deleted their supportive tweets after the backlash. “They promoted this, celebrated it, and only withdrew it when it threatened their business.”
Solana has not provided an official reason for the advertisement’s removal, and there has been no immediate comment from the Solana Foundation.
Web3 infrastructure firm Blocknative’s operating chief, Sean O’Connor, expressed his disbelief on social media, highlighting the ad’s insensitivity at a time when transgender individuals face significant challenges.
On his first day back in the White House, President Trump reversed executive orders from the Biden administration that aimed to prevent discrimination based on gender and sexual orientation, additionally recognizing only two genders—male and female—while eliminating the option of “X” as a gender on passports.
David McIntyre, the operating chief of DoubleZero, described the ad as “horrendous” and questioned why Solana chose to take such a negative approach rather than promoting a positive message.
Nicolas Pennie, co-founder of the Solana development platform Helius, noted that “virtue signaling will always be cringe, regardless of political beliefs.” Amidst the backlash, others who initially supported the ad have also retracted their endorsements.
Multicoin Capital co-founder Tushar Jain reflected on his earlier post praising the ad, stating he deleted it “after some reflection.” Initially calling the ad “bold and risky,” he suggested that featuring former Vice President Kamala Harris as the therapist would have improved it. In his follow-up comments, Jain emphasized that the focus should have been on deeper societal issues rather than surface-level matters like pronouns, which would have conveyed a message without alienating parts of the audience.