{"id":543734,"date":"2026-01-19T09:43:50","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T09:43:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crypto-news-flash.com\/?p=1276883"},"modified":"2026-01-19T09:43:50","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T09:43:50","slug":"solana-must-never-stop-iterating-or-it-will-die-says-co-founder-anatoly-yakovenko","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/e-bitco.in\/index.php\/2026\/01\/19\/solana-must-never-stop-iterating-or-it-will-die-says-co-founder-anatoly-yakovenko\/","title":{"rendered":"Solana Must Never Stop Iterating or It Will \u201cDie,\u201d Says Co-Founder Anatoly Yakovenko"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"eth-editorial-banner\"> <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"eth-editorial-logo\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crypto-news-flash.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/cnf2-scaled-1-1-1.png\" alt=\"Crypto News Flash\"> <span class=\"eth-editorial-text\">All news is rigorously fact-checked and reviewed by leading blockchain experts and seasoned industry insiders.<\/span> <\/div>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko says the chain must continue evolving to remain useful.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Comments follow Ethereum\u2019s \u201cwalkaway test\u201d debate and new traction in tokenized real-world assets.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr>\n<p><span>Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko has stated that the Solana network must never stop evolving, or it will risk dying. He emphasized that the protocol must continuously adapt to meet the needs of its developers and users, even if those changes do not always come from the core teams like Anza, Labs, or the Foundation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Yakovenko made the comments in response to a wider community discussion triggered by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. Buterin recently said that Ethereum must reach a point where it can \u201cossify,\u201d meaning it can stop changing without losing value. He added that Ethereum should pass the \u201cwalkaway test,\u201d which means the protocol must remain useful and secure even if active development slows or stops entirely. This aligns with Ethereum\u2019s upcoming 2026 upgrades, as we previously <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crypto-news-flash.com\/ethereum-2026-upgrades-self-sovereignty\/\"><span>covered<\/span><\/a><span>, which focus on privacy, decentralization, and user self-sovereignty.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">I actually think fairly differently on this. Solana needs to never stop iterating. It shouldn\u2019t depend on any single group or individual to do so, but if it ever stops changing to fit the needs of its devs and users, it will die.<\/p>\n<p>It needs to be so materially useful to humans\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/itqr1b5az4\">https:\/\/t.co\/itqr1b5az4<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 toly \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@toly) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/toly\/status\/2012541454669783314?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">January 17, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span>However, Yakovenko has pushed back against this idea. He said that for <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crypto-news-flash.com\/solana-sol-explained-2025-speed-scalability-and-real-world-adoption\/\"><span>Solana<\/span><\/a><span> to remain valuable, it must be constantly useful to developers. Those developers should generate enough value from their apps on Solana to reinvest in protocol improvements. These upgrades, he said, must solve real problems faced by users or builders.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>He also suggested that large language models (LLMs) might eventually write and verify protocol upgrade proposals. In that world, the cost of generating a new SIMD proposal might be covered by a vote that funds GPU usage. While the comment was partly hypothetical, it reflects Yakovenko\u2019s belief that the process of improvement must continue, even in a decentralized setting.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Solana\u2019s Protocol Debate Comes Amid RWA Growth&nbsp;<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span>The exchange of ideas between Ethereum and Solana leaders comes as both networks grow in different directions. As Ethereum is looking into ossification, Solana is expanding its transaction capacity and ecosystem tools. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crypto-news-flash.com\/solana-sees-record-873m-in-tokenized-rwa\/\"><span>According<\/span><\/a><span> to CNF, tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) on Solana reached $873.3 million at the start of 2026.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Yakovenko has explained that saying \u201cno\u201d to most change proposals is normal, but progress must not stall. If the network stops changing in response to user needs, he said, it could lose its relevance.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The broader community echoed these concerns. Sei co-founder Jayendra Jog <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/jayendra_jog\/status\/2012558349028425849?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span>noted<\/span><\/a><span> that change moves more slowly when no core group leads upgrades. He compared it to Bitcoin, where new proposals take years to pass due to internal debates. Yakovenko disagreed, saying technical specs are not the issue. Instead, he believes that coordination and testnet validation are the true hurdles, and AI could streamline both in the future.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">If it\u2019s not anza or labs or fd leading that upgrade, it\u2019s going to move extremely slowly \u2013 in essence ossifying<\/p>\n<p>FWIW Bitcoin still introduces new changes, they just take years to go through the community\u2019s internal politics<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Jay ($\/acc) (@jayendra_jog) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jayendra_jog\/status\/2012558349028425849?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">January 17, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span>Yakovenko concluded that the network\u2019s evolution must always be focused on developer and user needs. He said solving every issue is not required, but solving the right ones keeps the protocol alive.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>However, Solana\u2019s price has seen its own share of problems recently after the recent trade war between the United States and the EU. With Bitcoin falling below <\/span><b>$92,000<\/b><span>, SOL price has followed the trend, trading at <\/span><b>$133.71<\/b><span>, a <strong><span>6%<\/span><\/strong> decline from the resistance level.<\/span><\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crypto-news-flash.com\/\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>All news is rigorously fact-checked and reviewed by leading blockchain experts and seasoned industry insiders. Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko says the chain must continue evolving to remain useful. Comments follow Ethereum\u2019s \u201cwalkaway test\u201d debate and new traction in tokenized real-world assets. Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko has stated that the Solana network must never stop evolving, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":543735,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[8510,25,1667,56],"class_list":{"0":"post-543734","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-other","8":"tag-anatoly-yakovenko","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-sol","11":"tag-solana"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/e-bitco.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/e-bitco.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/e-bitco.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e-bitco.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e-bitco.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=543734"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/e-bitco.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543734\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e-bitco.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/543735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/e-bitco.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e-bitco.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e-bitco.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}