HOW ANATOLY YAKOVENKO BROUGHT SOLANA OUT OF THE ABYSS: FROM A 97% COLLAPSE TO THE MOST SURPRISING RECOVERY IN CRYPTO

When the FTX empire collapsed, dragging down the trust of thousands of investors, few bet on Solana. The largest sponsor of the blockchain had been exposed as a fraud. Sam Bankman-Fried, who had injected billions into the ecosystem, turned out to be a scammer. The narrative changed overnight.

The price of SOL plummeted 97%. Analysts were writing obituaries. Developers abandoned the project en masse. It seemed like the end of a story that had promised so much.

But in the shadows, Anatoly Yakovenko and his team were doing something few saw coming: they kept working.

An obsession that refuses to give up

Yakovenko, an engineer who previously worked at Qualcomm, built Solana on a clear vision: to create a blockchain capable of processing transactions at speeds rivaling traditional payment systems like Visa. That mission did not change when critics declared the project “dead.”

Instead of giving up, the team focused on the fundamentals: fixing network errors, strengthening infrastructure, and maintaining the trust of loyal developers.

The resurgence no one expected

A year later, Solana had not only survived. It had emerged transformed, processing more daily transactions than practically all other main chains combined.

With SOL currently trading at $127.26 (variation -3.60% in 24h), the network has regained its position as one of the most active blockchain ecosystems. The project’s resilience proved that, in cryptocurrencies, technical persistence can overcome market storms.

The story of Solana is a reminder: crises reveal who truly believes in what they build.