Solana Deletes Controversial Ad Following Crypto Community Backlash

Solana has removed its “America is Back—Time to Accelerate” ad, following intense criticism from the crypto community on X, with labels such as “offensive,” “cringe,” and “divisive.”

The now-deleted ad was posted Monday a few minutes before noon in New York and had garnered over 1.4 million views by dusk. The post featured patriotic themes and apparent political messaging, in particular against gender diversity.

What caught the attention of the crypto community was a scene in the video where a young man, supposedly undergoing therapy for “rational thinking syndrome,” said the following line: “I want to invent technologies, not gender.”

Solana has not responded to requests from Decrypt for comment on the issue. Solana has not made an official statement about the ad’s removal at press time.

While the video has been deleted, it has been reposted by several users on X.

“This might be the single most toxic piece of content I have ever consumed. It’s like the Coinbase ads if they were created by an incel who hasn’t left the basement in years,” wrote Tyler Bench, CRO of on-chain governance platform Tally.xyz.

The controversial ad reflects growing tensions within the crypto space about political messaging, with critics arguing the ad contradicted the industry’s foundational values of neutrality and global inclusivity.

Anneri van der Merwe, product lead at Base, criticized the advertisement for missing the mark.

“Offensive, cringe, and pandering. Base is for everyone. Solana co-opted the ‘is for everyone’ phrase last week too. This ad shows there’s still a long way to go in truly embracing that ethos,” van der Merwe claimed on X.

Other industry figures expressed similar disappointment. Adam Cochran, partner at Cinneamhain Ventures, questioned the judgment behind its creation.

“The ‘mind virus’ that’s infected the nation is whatever weird circlejerk is going on in Silicon Valley where people are convinced they were oppressed and that this is cool or edgy.” Cochran opined.

Mentor Reka, CEO of DEX protocol Avnu.Fi, attributed the ad’s tone to a deliberate attention-seeking strategy.

“This might be Solana’s least inventive ad ever. They clearly went for attention over EVERYTHING, and well… mission accomplished, I guess,” Reka said.

Even Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko distanced himself from the campaign, suggesting in a post that the company’s previous “Maren ad was better,” referencing an earlier, less controversial marketing effort.

Some observers suggest the advertisement may have been intentional “rage bait” designed to generate buzz through controversy, a marketing approach that risks alienating substantial portions of the global crypto community.

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair