Solana's advertising campaign fails, should public chains take a political stance?

Author: shushu, BlockBeats

On one hand, we see the first sister entering various cryptocurrency trading groups and the BNB Chain ecosystem dancing wildly, while on the other hand, Solana and Base are at odds again. Both are regarded by the community as a kind of "American chain," and they have completely fallen out over the issue of ideology.

The Political Stance of the "American Chain" is Obvious, Community Critiques, Base Strikes Back

The trigger for this was a promotional short film by Solana that has since been deleted. The main content features a consultant (symbolizing certain ideological trends in modern society) conversing with a man named "American" (symbolizing traditional American values, innovative spirit, and rational thinking).

American expressed interest in fields such as technological innovation, multi-planet exploration, nuclear energy, cryptocurrency, and artificial intelligence, but the consultant continually guided him to focus on identity politics, gender identity, and social constructivism, rather than actual actions and progress.

Ad script list; Illustration: BlockBeats

American expressed confusion and dissatisfaction to the consultant, realizing that his rational thinking and innovative spirit were seen as problems, and he was even "canceled" for insisting on mathematical objectivity ("2+2=4"). After being forced to comply with regulatory policies, such as suppressing cryptocurrency and slowing down nuclear energy approvals, American ultimately realized he could not accept this reality, decided to embrace innovation and practicality again, and at the end of the dialogue "fired" the consultant, symbolizing a rebellion against certain modern ideological trends.

At the end of the video, American burst through the door, with the screen displaying "American is Back," followed by promotional information for a Solana conference in May and a logo symbolizing accelerationism.

The community had mixed reactions to this advertisement; Solana chose to delete the short film a few hours after its release, but someone uploaded it to Zora for the community to mint, which has now reached a market value of $120,000.

Meanwhile, Base also "got creative" and released a short film about the transformation of an old car dealer. Initially, he was immersed in traditional car trading and had no interest in cryptocurrency. However, when faced with slow bank transfers, limited business hours, and inconvenient cash transactions, he began to think about new solutions. Ultimately, he accepted cryptocurrency on the recommendation of a returning customer.

Illustration: BlockBeats

The Public Chain's Path: Mosque or Chameleon?

While Solana was ridiculed for this advertisement, some people also dug up its political donation campaign from 2020 related to the "Black Lives Matter" movement, where Solana stated, "Everyone is equal, regardless of race or gender, fairness and justice." Now, with the release of an advertisement accusing transgender individuals of hindering innovation, the community has criticized it as a political chameleon.

The debates between Solana and ecosystems like Ethereum and Base are not new. However, the difference is that since Trump's presidency, blockchain ecosystems led by Solana and Base, which are based in the U.S., have shown completely different political stances and ideological choices compared to Ethereum.

Ethereum founder Vitalik has consistently maintained his political stance, advocating for decentralization, rejecting political interference, avoiding speculation, and promoting technological and ecological innovation. He hopes Ethereum can uphold its original values while attracting more users through practical applications, rather than gaining short-term advantages by catering to politics or vested interest groups.

On social media, he stated that the Ethereum Foundation would avoid getting close to any political figures, asserting that those who seek to ride on politicians' coattails are misguided, and Ethereum needs a clearer positioning.

In contrast, Solana, Base, and other crypto projects like Cardano and Ripple have become favored guests of Trump.

First Crypto White House Summit

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

Currently, the English-speaking community is in heated debate over Solana's short film, with some expressing confusion over why an open-source project like Solana (especially one based on cryptography) would choose such a strange stance, which is perplexing.

"Don't you realize that there is an disproportionately high number of transgender developers contributing to open source, cryptography, security, and intelligence software? Almost everyone who grew up in the cypherpunk culture knows at least one transgender super developer or hacker; they are legendary figures. These communities are so admirable because they adhere to the creed: We don't care who you are; we only care about what you do."

Others support Solana's stance, believing that since they have political resources, they should use them wisely to maximize the benefits of ecosystem development.

Some think the advertisement is very clever marketing, stating, "Those who cry that 'cryptocurrency should be decentralized and politically neutral' completely missed the point. This advertisement is designed to make people feel embarrassed and provoke anger; you all took the bait—this actually makes its spread wider." Indeed, everyone is now sharing this advertisement short film.

Meanwhile, complaints about Ethereum have not ceased, with some saying, "No matter how you criticize Solana's embarrassing marketing, at least they are not afraid to try various things, no matter how foolish they may seem. Ethereum, on the other hand, is busy maintaining 'credible neutrality' and releasing a lot of clichés."

As Solana anchors its brand image to the Stars and Stripes and Base uses commercial narratives to satirize the traditional financial system, cryptocurrency has irreversibly stepped into the ideological battleground. This "American chain" value war not only exposes the ambition of public chain ecosystems to seize political discourse power but also reflects the deep contradictions between the belief in decentralization and the survival rules of pragmatism.

Just as Bitcoin once attempted to dissolve sovereign will through algorithms, today's Layer 1s are actively weaving political narratives—this may herald the 2.0 script of the crypto revolution: technical protocols begin to learn to manipulate ideological tools, while the original doctrine of "credible neutrality" is being redefined by more complex real-world games. When code can no longer self-validate its stance, the future of the crypto world may no longer be solely judged by hash rates.