Solana Founders: What We Care About Now

At the fifth annual Breakpoint conference in Abu Dhabi, Solana co-founders Raj Gokal and Anatoly Yakovenko took the stage to reflect on the network's remarkable journey and reveal what they're most focused on as the ecosystem enters its next chapter—culminating in the exciting announcement that Breakpoint 2026 will take place in London.

Summary

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The fireside chat offered a rare glimpse into how Solana's leadership views the network's evolution from what Raj called a "ghost chain" to a platform now handling everything from DeFi to meme coins to institutional finance. Perhaps most striking was Anatoly's declaration that with Firedancer—the new validator client—completing final audits, Solana may finally be ready to shed its "beta" tag, representing a major milestone in network maturity.

The founders emphasized that true decentralization isn't about the absence of leadership but rather an abundance of it, pointing to how community members, application builders, and protocol developers have stepped up to guide the network independently of the original founding team. Anatoly even joked that his goal is to have no stage time next year—simply sitting in the audience as a spectator.

Revenue emerged as a central theme, with Raj highlighting a compelling statistic: of the last 20 companies to reach $100 million in revenue, the majority are crypto businesses, and most of those are building on Solana. The Seeker mobile device was also discussed as an unexpected success story, with apps like CFL, Parena, and Moonwalk Fitness finding their first 10,000 users through the crypto-native distribution channel.

Looking ahead, the founders discussed ambitions to capture 25% of global finance on-chain within the next decade—an upgrade from earlier projections given crypto's accelerating momentum and increasingly favorable regulatory environments.

Key Points:

Network Maturity and the End of Beta

A significant revelation from the session was Anatoly's suggestion that Solana may be ready to remove its "beta" designation. This confidence stems from Firedancer—the independent validator client built by Jump Crypto—completing its final audits. Having two complete implementations of the protocol eliminates what Anatoly called the "bus factor" (the risk of depending on a single codebase) and provides a true reference for valid state transitions on the network.

The technical improvements planned under the SIMD (Solana Improvement Documents) roadmap, including upgrades like Alpenglow and MCP, are expected to go live "relatively soon" in 2026. These changes represent the culmination of years of engineering work to make Solana the most performant blockchain available.

The Evolution from Ghost Chain to Global Infrastructure

Raj Gokal provided a fascinating retrospective on Solana's many identities over the years. The network began as what he termed a "ghost chain" with minimal activity, then became known as a DeFi chain, an FTX chain (before that association became problematic), an NFT chain, and most recently a meme coin chain. Each phase brought new users, developers, and use cases.

The co-founder emphasized that this constant reinvention demonstrates the community's resilience and commitment to the network's core value propositions: performance and ease of use. The compounding effect of all these different communities now building simultaneously has created something larger than any single use case could achieve alone.

Revenue as the North Star

Both founders stressed the importance of revenue-generating businesses as a metric for ecosystem health. Anatoly explained that revenue is the closest thing to a "source of truth" for focusing a team, and the more successful businesses building on Solana, the better positioned the network is for long-term success.

The founders shared a striking statistic: among the last 20 companies to reach $100 million in annual revenue, the majority are crypto businesses, and most of those are Solana-based. This was described as a "huge breakthrough" and validation of the ecosystem's approach to fostering entrepreneurship through programs like Colosseum hackathons, which now attract 1,700 teams at a time.

Meme Coins and Entertainment as Legitimate Use Cases

When asked about the tension between meme coin culture and institutional adoption, the founders offered a unified perspective: the internet has always been both serious and entertaining. Raj compared meme coins to getting his first email address just to receive a "dancing baby" GIF from his cousin—trivial on the surface but the first step into a transformative technology.

Anatoly drew parallels to Nvidia, which started as a gaming company before its GPUs became essential for AI. Similarly, meme coins and NFTs represent the "cats of the internet"—entertainment that drives adoption and funds the development of technology capable of serving global finance. The founders believe that in 10 years, people will have a "less toxic and scary relationship with finance" because of crypto's gamification of financial concepts.

Seeker Mobile as a Developer Platform

The Seeker phone emerged as an unexpected success story, providing a concentrated distribution channel for crypto-native applications. Apps like CFL, Parena, Moonwalk Fitness, and Ore Miner have found their first 10,000 users through the Seeker and SMS platform—a much smaller but highly engaged audience compared to Apple's App Store.

For developers building mobile applications who need early traction, Seeker offers what Raj described as "a very small pond where you can be a big fish." This allows teams to iterate quickly, figure out engagement loops, and start generating revenue before attempting to scale to mainstream platforms.

The 10-Year Vision

When asked about Solana's long-term goals, Raj revealed that the original target was to capture a significant percentage of global finance on-chain. Given crypto's accelerating adoption, favorable regulatory developments, support from major countries and banks, the founders are now setting their sights on 25% of global finance—a dramatic increase from earlier projections.

Anatoly, characteristically pragmatic, noted he can only think about eight weeks ahead, reflecting his focus on near-term technical execution while others handle longer-term strategic planning.

Facts + Figures

• Breakpoint 2025 marked the fifth annual conference, held in Abu Dhabi
• Firedancer, the second validator client for Solana, is completing final audits and represents a major decentralization milestone
• Of the last 20 companies to reach $100 million in revenue, the majority are crypto businesses, and most are built on Solana
• Colosseum hackathons now attract 1,700 teams per event
• The founders' revised long-term goal is for 25% of global finance to run on-chain
• Apps on Seeker are successfully acquiring their first 10,000 users through the platform
• Technical improvements including Alpenglow and MCP are expected to launch in 2026
• Anatoly mentioned having approximately 7 minutes of stage time, noting his goal is to have zero next year
• Breakpoint 2026 will be held in London
• The founders suggest Solana may be ready to remove its "beta" tag

Top Quotes

"Solana started as a ghost chain, and then a DeFi chain, and then an FTX chain, and then a meme coin chain... and now it's clear that it's used for absolutely everything." — Raj Gokal

"Decentralization is not the absence of leadership. It's the abundance of leadership." — Anatoly Yakovenko (quoted by Raj)

"My goal is to just be in the audience. That would be, I think, seeing the network really mature and take a life of its own." — Anatoly Yakovenko

"I think the easiest way to explain it is like childhood trauma and leaving the Soviet Union and that you can take your assets with you and you gotta flee." — Anatoly Yakovenko, on explaining blockchain to non-crypto people

"I think meme coins might be the first reason a lot of people get a wallet, but it grows into something much larger." — Raj Gokal

"I don't think we need the beta tag anymore." — Anatoly Yakovenko

"A revenue generating business is kind of the closest thing you can get to a source of truth." — Anatoly Yakovenko

"In 10 years, people will have a less toxic and scary relationship with finance because of crypto." — Raj Gokal

"If you're building a mobile app and you need your first 10,000 users, this is a very small pond where you can be a big fish." — Raj Gokal, on Seeker

"I think you got to ship fast. That would be my advice." — Anatoly Yakovenko

Questions Answered

What major technical milestone is Solana approaching?

Solana is nearing the completion of Firedancer, an independent validator client that has finished development and is in final audits. This represents a critical milestone because having two complete implementations of the protocol—the original Agave client and now Firedancer—eliminates single points of failure and provides a definitive reference for valid state transitions. According to Anatoly, this achievement means Solana may finally be ready to remove its "beta" designation, signaling the network's maturity as production-ready infrastructure.

How do the Solana founders view meme coins and their role in the ecosystem?

The founders see meme coins as a legitimate and valuable part of the ecosystem, comparing them to the "cats of the internet"—entertainment content that drove early internet adoption. Raj noted that just as he got his first email address to receive a dancing baby GIF, many people get their first crypto wallet to trade meme coins. The key insight is that this entertainment layer funds the development of serious financial infrastructure, similar to how Nvidia's gaming business enabled its current dominance in AI computing.

What metrics does Solana prioritize for measuring ecosystem success?

Revenue is the primary metric the founders focus on, as it represents the closest thing to a "source of truth" for whether businesses are creating real value. They proudly shared that among the last 20 companies to reach $100 million in revenue, most are crypto businesses building on Solana. Secondary metrics like trading volumes and TVL (total value locked) remain important for DeFi-specific applications, but the founders emphasize that all metrics should ultimately tie back to sustainable business models and runway.

What is Solana's long-term vision for the network?

The founders originally discussed capturing a significant percentage of global finance on-chain, and they've now upgraded that target to 25% within the next decade. This ambitious revision reflects crypto's faster-than-expected acceleration, clearer regulatory environments in major markets, and increasing institutional adoption. Raj noted that developments like government support and major banks issuing assets on-chain have exceeded their 2017 expectations.

How is the Seeker phone helping Solana developers?

The Seeker mobile device has become an effective distribution channel for crypto-native applications. Despite being much smaller than Apple's App Store, it offers a concentrated audience of engaged crypto users eager to try new applications. Teams like CFL, Parena, Moonwalk Fitness, and Ore Miner have successfully acquired their first 10,000 users through the platform. For developers who need early traction to iterate on their product and prove their business model, Seeker provides a focused environment to be a "big fish in a small pond" before scaling to mainstream platforms.

Where will Breakpoint 2026 be held?

Breakpoint 2026 will take place in London. The founders explained that selecting a location requires optimizing for visa accessibility and thinking strategically about positioning for the ecosystem and network. They expressed confidence that London will be an excellent choice for next year's conference, following the success of Abu Dhabi in 2025.

What advice do the founders have for builders on Solana?

Anatoly's primary advice is to "ship fast." He encourages founders to iterate quickly, get their ideas to market, watch them potentially fail, and then identify the users who do something interesting with what was built. The key is to reshape products based on real user behavior rather than theoretical assumptions. This approach aligns with the entropy of thousands of entrepreneurs exploring every possible use case for blockchain technology, which ultimately drives innovation.