This week, a public debate about support for builders on Solana spilled into full view, with Vibhu Norby, the Solana Foundation’s chief product officer, posting a detailed rebuttal, where they cited $650 million raised by alumni of the Colosseum program and tens of millions in non-equity grants, as well as the network’s lead in total impressions across social media.
Vibhu’s post came as criticism of founder entitlement by some members of the crypto community quickly widened into a conversation about whether the Foundation was doing enough for its builders.
What the Solana Foundation Is Doing
In an X post published on March 24, Norby addressed what he called “glaring inaccuracies” in recent online discussions about Solana’s support for builders. First, he stated that projects that came from the Colosseum accelerator alone have raised more than $650 million in venture capital. In addition, he said that the ecosystem runs several hackathons each year, including three since January, where they offered prize pools worth millions of dollars.
Furthermore, the Foundation executive noted that programs such as Superteam provide grants of up to $10,000, with early-stage founders able to access even more backing, including $50,000 for Y Combinator participants who are building on Solana.
There also exists a $2 million prediction markets fund through a partnership with Kalshi, as well as open-ended grants for open source projects and those focusing on public good, with check sizes averaging $40,000.
Norby also pointed to non-equity funding, saying the Foundation and affiliates such as Monke Foundry, Metaplex, Wormhole, and Bonk distribute tens of millions each year through grants without taking ownership stakes.
Looking at distribution, the Foundation has amplified more than 300 companies in the Solana ecosystem on X since January 1, per the post. As an example, the tweet mentioned a recent live event at mtndao, where one team, Tapestry, reported that there were thousands of new downloads of its app after the Solana Foundation streamed and clipped their Demo Day presentation.
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According to Norby, the organization also runs ten regular podcasts, produces hundreds of videos every year, and operates a creative collective of more than 50 influencers known as Luminaries, which all led to Solana beating all other networks in total impressions and engagement on X and LinkedIn.
Criticism of Solana Founders
Earlier in the week, Chase, a crypto builder on Solana, argued that too many Solana founders had grown comfortable and entitled.
The post elicited a range of reactions, with some, like investor Mike Dudas, claiming that the tone from the Foundation felt “very odd” given that “virtually nothing hit its expected peak last cycle.” He also added that the founders he had come across were “grinding, hungry, and far from complacent.”
Another poster, DoubleZero co-founder Austin Federa, agreed that indeed complacency was a genuine problem but stated that it didn’t just apply to founders but had affected even the Solana Foundation as well as its core development community. Chase did clarify later that his tweet had not been aimed at builders working hard without expecting handouts.
Meanwhile, after a prolonged slide that saw SOL trading in the mid-$80s, the token was changing hands near $92 at the time of writing, up around 4% in the last 24 hours and about 8% over 30 days. However, year-on-year, it is still down more than 34%, which has helped keep it almost 69% below its all-time high of $293 that was set just over a year ago.
