Solana Advertisement Backfire: Should Public Blockchains Take Sides Politically?

While watching a senior sister join various meme coin groups and the BNB Chain ecosystem group dancing chaotically, on the other hand, Solana and Base are having a dispute. Both chains are seen by the community as to some extent representing the "American chain," and they have completely clashed on the matter of ideology.

“American Chain” Adopts Clear Political Stance, Community Mocks, Base Strikes Back

The catalyst this time was a now-deleted promotional video by Solana, where the main content depicted an exchange between a consultant (symbolizing certain ideological trends in modern society) and a man named "American" (symbolizing traditional American values, innovation, and rational thinking).

American expressed interest in technology innovation, space exploration, nuclear energy, cryptocurrency, and artificial intelligence, among other areas, but the consultant kept guiding him to focus on identity politics, gender identity, and social constructivism rather than tangible actions and progress.

Ad copy list; Artwork: BlockBeats

American expressed confusion and dissatisfaction to the consultant, as he found his rational thinking and innovative spirit to be problems. He even faced cancellation for insisting on mathematical objectivity ("2+2=4"). After being forced to comply with regulatory policies, such as cracking down on cryptocurrency and slowing down nuclear energy approvals, American finally realized he could not accept this reality. He decided to embrace innovation and practical work again and, at the end of the conversation, "fired" the consultant, symbolizing resistance to certain modern ideological trends.

At the end of the video, American bursts out of the door, with the words "American is Back" on the screen, followed by promotional information for Solana's May conference and the iconic logo symbolizing accelerationism.

The community had mixed reactions to this ad. After the ad was released, Solana chose to delete the video within hours. However, someone uploaded it to Zora for community minting, which now has a market value of $120,000.

On the other hand, Base also "pulled off" by releasing a video, featuring the transformation journey of an old car dealer. Initially, he was immersed in traditional car trading and had no interest in cryptocurrency. However, when faced with issues such as slow bank transfers, limited business hours, and inconvenient cash transactions, he began to ponder new solutions. Finally, upon a recommendation from a repeat customer, he embraced cryptocurrency.

Illustration: BlockBeats

Two Options for Public Blockchains: Mosque or Chameleon?

While Solana was mocked by the community for this ad, some also brought up its 2020 political donation campaign in support of the "Black Lives Matter" movement, where Solana stated, "Equality and fairness for all regardless of race or gender." Now, with the release of an ad accusing transgenderism of hindering innovation, people in the community are condemning Solana as a political chameleon.

Solana has had disputes with the Ethereum, Base, and other ecosystems before. However, since the inauguration of Trump, blockchain ecosystems based in the United States, such as Solana and Base, have shown entirely different political stances and ideological choices compared to Ethereum.

Ethereum's founder Vitalik has consistently upheld his political stance, advocating decentralization, rejecting political intervention, avoiding speculation, and promoting technological and ecological innovation. He hopes that Ethereum can uphold its original values and attract more users through practical applications, rather than seeking short-term advantages by catering to politics or vested interest groups.

On social media, he bluntly stated that the Ethereum Foundation will steer clear of any political figures. Those who try to capitalize on the popularity of politicians are misguided, as Ethereum needs a more precise and clear positioning.

In contrast, Solana, Base, Cardano, Ripple, and other cryptocurrency projects have become guests of honor of Trump.

First Cryptocurrency White House Summit

In February of this year, Solana updated its brand image, featuring the word "ACCELERATE" on its promotional banners, with the background directly displaying the American flag.

Currently, the English-speaking community is in an uproar over this Solana video, with some expressing confusion as to why such an open-source project (especially one built on cryptography) would take such a strange stance, leaving people puzzled.

“Have you not realized that there is a disproportionately large number of transgender developers contributing to open source, cryptography, security, and intelligence software? Almost everyone who grew up in cyberpunk culture knows at least one transgender super developer or hacker, they are simply legendary figures. The reason these communities are so admirable is that they always adhere to a creed: we don't care who you are, we only care about what you have done.”

Some also argue in support of Solana's position, believing that since having political resources, they should be reasonably utilized to maximize the ecosystem's development benefits.

Others think that this ad is a very clever marketing move, “Those crying out 'Cryptocurrency should be decentralized, politically neutral' completely missed the point, this ad is designed to make people feel awkward and provoke anger, and you all fell for it—this actually makes its spread even wider.” Indeed, everyone is now spreading this ad clip.

At the same time, the complaints about Ethereum from the community have not stopped, “Say what you will about Solana's embarrassing marketing, but at least they are not afraid to try various things, no matter how stupid these things may seem. Ethereum, on the other hand, is busy maintaining its 'trusted neutrality' and releasing a lot of clichés.”

When Solana anchors its brand image to the stars and stripes, and Base mocks the traditional financial system with a commercial narrative, cryptocurrency has irreversibly entered the ideological arena. This 'American Chain' values war has not only exposed the ambition of public chain ecosystems to vie for political discourse power but also reflected the deep-seated contradiction between decentralization faith and utilitarian survival rules.

Just as Bitcoin once attempted to dissolve sovereign will with an algorithm, today's Layer1s are actively weaving political narratives—perhaps heralding the script of the 2.0 of the crypto revolution: technical protocols are starting to learn to manipulate ideological tools, and the original doctrine of 'trusted neutrality' is being redefined in a more complex game of reality. When code cannot prove its stance, the future of the crypto world may no longer be dominated by hash rate alone.