Original source: Crypto Isn't for Everyone (And That's a Good Thing) with Anatoly Yakovenko Podcast Date: July 12, 2025
Original text translated by: Lenaxin, ChainCatcher
This article is compiled from an in-depth dialogue with Solana founder Anatoly Yakovenko on the More or Less podcast, where he analyzes the industry cycle of 'punks, hoodies, and suits,' points out that AI is just a product while crypto is a movement, and reveals how stablecoins quietly drive the globalization of the dollar. At the same time, he explains Solana's mission to challenge the monopoly of app stores and suggests that the future of the crypto industry should not focus on mass adoption but rather on serving high-net-worth niche groups.
Brilliant viewpoint:
AI is just a product, while crypto is a movement.
If Bitcoin becomes a hedging tool on par with gold, the crypto market is considered victorious.
Developing dedicated devices and app stores for crypto users and charging low fees can open new paths amid the monopolization by giants.
When stablecoins are backed by real assets like government bonds, they will disrupt the traditional financial system.
The current market perception of stablecoins is both overly focused and severely underestimating their potential.
Real market demand remains highly concentrated on USD stablecoins.
When individuals are long immersed in such information cocoons, a disconnect between cognition and reality becomes inevitable.
When the idealists exit, their voices will also disappear.
Opening story: Anatoly's growth and the birth of Solana.
Rosa: Could you briefly introduce the background and the founding process of Solana?
Anatoly: I was born in the Soviet Union. My parents immigrated right after the fall of the Berlin Wall, precisely after the disintegration of the Soviet Union. I grew up in Chicago and came to the U.S. at the age of 11, just in time for Michael Jordan's peak with the Chicago Bulls, fully immersed in that wave. I spent the entire 90s there and later attended Illinois State University to study computer science.
At that time, it was during the wave of mobile revolution. I worked at Qualcomm from 2004 to 2015, participating in all mobile phone R&D projects you can think of, and encountered every mobile operating system of that time.
As for the impetus to establish Solana, it was after downing two cups of coffee and a bottle of beer at the Soleil cafe in San Francisco one day that the idea suddenly struck me while I was tossing and turning in bed at four in the morning. Six months later, I pitched this idea to Sam Russo at Slow bar.
The evolutionary trajectory of the crypto world: punks, hoodies, and suits.
Rosa: We are currently at a critical moment: regulation is significantly relaxed, and innovation projects are emerging densely. In your opinion, how is the current market situation? What fundamental differences exist compared to a year ago?
Anatoly: I have observed many commonalities between the crypto movement and other technological waves, such as the open-source movement. Objectively speaking, AI is closer to specific products rather than a social movement. This development model always follows a fixed trajectory: initially led by punk rebellious geeks, then commercialized by hoodie entrepreneurs, and finally fully taken over by suited capital.
We are currently in a delicate transitional period, as hoodie-wearing teams of entrepreneurs mature, while suited capital is just beginning to explore how to incorporate this industry, attempting to transform it into a form indistinguishable from traditional industries.
Rosa: Speaking of capital entering the space, hedge funds and traditional asset management companies are now issuing various crypto products. Are you suggesting they will directly incorporate underlying blockchain technology?
Anatoly: Stablecoins are a ready-made success story. This programmable currency is perfect, especially when backed by real assets like government bonds, directly overturning the traditional financial system built on fax technology since World War II.
Rosa: What is the actual value of stablecoins to the U.S. domestic market?
Anatoly: When the world craves USD, if Tether or Circle becomes the standard bearer for programmable dollars, the U.S. can only go with the flow. After all, the current scale of the global economy necessitates a transformation of the dollar system. Ordinary consumers will certainly not give up credit cards, but the collaboration model between Visa and banks will inevitably innovate, as it can directly reconstruct the entire settlement system based on stablecoins.
Observations on the evolution of the crypto ecosystem: from value storage to meme economy.
Sam: Will traditional financial institutions accept crypto technology through public transformation or covert infiltration?
Anatoly: The key lies in functional realization. If banks only allow holding Bitcoin but do not support actual usage, the situation will become delicate. When this model scales, Bitcoin may evolve into digital gold. Although from a (securities analysis) perspective, neither Bitcoin nor gold can be valued using cash flow discount models.
The essential motivation for people to hold them is fear, much like when my parents fled the disintegrating Soviet Union with gold. Today, Bitcoin plays the same role, which may be the only reasonable explanation. If Bitcoin one day becomes a mainstream hedging tool on par with gold, then regardless of how you define success, the entire crypto market can be deemed successful.
Sam: What is the essential difference between crypto assets and stocks/gold when traditional valuation models generally fail? Isn't gold also a millennia-old meme?
Anatoly: The difference lies in scale. When the gold meme reaches a trillion-dollar level and forms a global consensus, it reflects a certain essence of human civilization; we have always stored and transferred value using abstract concepts.
Sam: Could you compare the different value systems in the crypto space?
Anatoly: The abstract nature of Bitcoin makes it difficult to value using engineering thinking, but Solana's positioning is very clear: it is fundamentally an efficient information transmission channel. When users conduct token trades, they are essentially broadcasting valuable information. Since the system only executes the first matched transaction, it naturally forms an incentive mechanism for paying priority fees. The larger the transaction volume processed by this channel, the higher the generated revenue. Whether the transmitted asset is Bitcoin or USDC doesn't matter; the system only processes data streams.
We are fortunate to live in an increasingly affluent world, and as people have more disposable income, they will naturally invest in various interesting things. For instance, meme coins, some find it amusing to issue a parody coin called 'Bowdoin' mocking Biden.
Rosa: Are meme coins all based on Solana?
Anatoly: Currently, the vast majority are. Although there are several high market-cap coins on Ethereum, Solana can create 20,000 to 50,000 new meme coins daily, even exceeding 100,000 at peak times.
Sam: Why is the infrastructure development of the meme coin ecosystem severely lagging?
Anatoly: This is actually a systems engineering challenge; as long as it involves value distribution, there will always be people looking for loopholes. Just like when discounts on mobile phones emerge, countless virtual numbers pop up to take advantage.
Crypto phone strategy: Decoding platform competition.
Rosa: Why did Solana choose to enter the mobile hardware field?
Anatoly: This stems from my professional background: having worked deeply in the mobile phone industry for over a decade, I can assemble a core team. The current Internet should be open and free, but it is being herded into monetization by companies like Apple with their 'sandbox' model. Although value has been created, this closed ecosystem is suffocating.
Apple, Google, and Meta are all squeezing user value through sandbox mechanisms. While their products are indeed excellent (for example, I am currently using Google's free email AI), crypto technology can break this monopoly. Because digital assets such as NFTs and meme coins have scarcity, platforms cannot charge a 30% cut like they do for game items. After all, these are not infinitely replicable virtual goods.
The scarcity of crypto assets fundamentally changes the rules. Take CryptoPunk NFTs as an example: there is only one in the world, and it cannot be infinitely replicated like game items. When users spend $10,000 to buy it, the Apple Store cannot charge a 20% transaction fee. Users would not accept it, and the issuer would also struggle to bear the cost.
This fundamental conflict reveals an opportunity: developing dedicated devices and app stores for crypto users and charging far lower fees than traditional platforms (e.g., 0.5% instead of 30%) can carve out new paths amid the monopolization by giants.
Rosa: Is the business model simply earning transaction fees?
Anatoly: Like Binance or Metamask, charging minimal fees on massive crypto transactions. Although the rates are less than 1/30 of traditional platforms, the average transaction volume per crypto user is dozens of times that of ordinary Internet users.
Rosa: To attract talent to build crypto infrastructure, is there a need to adjust the existing incentive system?
Anatoly: The core lies in identifying target users. I cannot determine whether the general public needs crypto products. However, the existing crypto user base, which accounts for only 1% of the global population (about 100 million people), has an average revenue per user (ARPU) that is dozens of times higher than that of ordinary Internet users.
Just as Pump.fun insisted on challenging TikTok after achieving initial success, entrepreneurs are always pursuing their ultimate goals.
How stablecoins affect the global monetary landscape.
Rosa: How will the listing of stablecoins like Circle affect the crypto financial ecosystem?
Anatoly: There is a clear contradiction in the current market perception of stablecoins: it is both overly focused and severely underestimating their potential. Imagine a scenario where the global circulation of stablecoins reaches $5 trillion, which would mean that the USD has completed a comprehensive digital transformation and become a daily currency in Europe, Southeast Asia, and even Africa.
In an environment lacking official support from the U.S. government and facing strict regulatory pressures, the stablecoin market size has surpassed $250 billion, and this development trend will continue to accelerate.
Rosa: Has there been a change in global regulatory agencies' policy stance on stablecoins?
Anatoly: This year, there has indeed been a shift in regulatory attitudes, but the legislative process will still take 2-4 years to complete. Bitcoin has formed a unique value belief system, while the development trajectory of other crypto applications, much like the early days of email technology, cannot be accurately predicted in its final form.
Sam: How will stablecoins impact the global monetary landscape?
Anatoly: The data clearly reveals the current landscape: the development of Euro stablecoins is hindered, while the development of Yuan stablecoins mainly relies on policy-driven forces.
Real market demand remains highly concentrated on USD stablecoins; even street vendors in Argentina have widely adopted USDT to hedge against local currency inflation risks. This grassroots-driven dollarization process could further consolidate the USD's global dominance.
Rosa: Does this mean that 'local stablecoins' are merely a wishful thinking of VCs?
Anatoly: Under the current financial infrastructure framework, USD stablecoins do effectively address the pain points of actual payments. Just like how cross-border e-commerce commonly adopts USD settlements, the on-chain economy is spontaneously forming a similar USD-dominated settlement area. Unless faced with mandatory policy interventions, this currency pattern based on network effects will remain stable.
Sam: Is the global penetration of USD stablecoins reshaping a new paradigm of dollar hegemony?
Anatoly: In terms of actual effects, micro-level spontaneous choices are more influential. When Argentine traders autonomously adopt USDT for trade settlements, this grassroots-driven dollarization process is more effective than any policy intervention. If the stablecoin market size surpasses $1 trillion in two years, it would mean that 5% of the global USD supply has been transformed into on-chain form.
The public opinion dilemma in the crypto world.
Rosa: Linda has a powerful network composed of media, clients, and industry professionals. I believe her future is still bright. This follows the controversy surrounding Grok, who made anti-Semitic remarks, while Musk downplayed it. What do you think of this uproar?
Anatoly: This is the norm of the Internet; there will always be someone spreading malice. Interestingly, people are trying to use cryptocurrencies to solve such problems, like developing anti-counterfeit coins. But once an AI system opens up to public input, there will inevitably be those who deliberately cross the line. To be honest, Grok's remarks are relatively restrained.
Rosa: In the crisis of trust in information, can crypto technology reconstruct a credible verification mechanism?
Anatoly: It is more likely to revert to prediction markets (Polymarket), although there is also space for manipulation, but under the scale effect, checks and balances will form.
Rosa: What do you think about Sequoia Capital partner Shawn Maguire being labeled an 'Islamist' for his comments on the Mandani project?
Anatoly: Although I don't always agree with Shawn's views, and sometimes he seems aggressive, I support the principle of free speech. The Internet should allow for different voices; people can oppose his views, but they should not deprive him of the right to express himself.
Rosa: Why did Shawn Maguire choose controversial remarks over professional means to gain attention?
Anatoly: This phenomenon shares the same root as the dilemma of Internet information quality: highly cognitive groups often pursue maximum information absorption and form judgments on everything. Algorithms, in order to maintain user stickiness, will continue to push content that reinforces existing biases.
For example, if users perceive Curry's shooting as inefficient, the system will loop replay his missed shots. When individuals are long immersed in such information cocoons, a disconnect between cognition and reality becomes inevitable.
Rosa: What attitude do crypto punks hold towards the current industry ecosystem? Are they furious, or are they too caught up in their earnings to care?
Anatoly: This question is very interesting. Those who are truly angry have already left. Just as no one remembers the open Internet before Facebook, when the idealists exit, their voices disappear.
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