When Solana debuted in 2020, decentralized financing wanted to dominate. Now, five years and more than eight billion transactions later, supporters of the so-called Ethereum murderer have hired a much more ambitious enterprise: conquering the corridors of the congress.
It was not easy to argue for Solana on Capitol Hill – where Defi still suffers from the association with money washer and hackers, despite a growing embrace of crypto.
Enter the Solana Policy Institute.
Founded in March, the low-policy policy strives for the second largest low-1 network through total value to represent the many pseudonymous coders and founders that build on Solana and other block chains in the vast defi-sector. Defi is a Catchall term that represents a wide range of crypto-driven, autonomous financial services that do not require centralized intermediaries such as banks.
The non-profit will be helped by President Kristin Smith-de Outgoing Blockchain Association CEO and CEO Miller Whitehouse-Levine, the Director of Defi Education Fund. They are two star lobbyists who are equally fluent in DC -Discours and the jargon of the crypto running graves.
Together they want to reform the shady reputation of the Defi sector and ensure that the space remains top of the mind among policy makers.
“A lot is happening in the world and the congress should respond to what is happening,” said Whitehouse-Levine Decrypt.
“We want to ensure that those in DC-policy-shaped circles and anyone who argues for their interests here are aware of all the cool things that take place on Solana and the possibilities of development on the chain,” he added.
The SPI is planning to organize a wave of ‘fly-ins’, which produces its developers, founders and other builders of the trenches and to send them to Capitol Hill to train legislators, according to Whitehouse-Levine.
The fly-ins represent a large increase in the presence of the Layer-1 on Capitol Hill. For years, lawyers for Solana and other leading block chains have been convened for monthly phone calls about the Defi policy, said Whitehouse-Levine. But those efforts have not always translated into invitations to mix with legislators.
“There is no replacement for the people who actually build these things that come to Washington, in which it is explained what they are trying to achieve to policymakers and policy makers show what they are building,” said Whitehouse-Levine.
However, it remains unclear how SPI intends to finance his education. Whitehouse-Levine did not announce the amount of money that the Solana policy institute has in his treasury and he refused to identify the source of those funds.
A source that is familiar with the issue Decrypt However, the institute is planning to make an important financing announcement soon.
In the meantime, three sources are in the Solana Ecosystem told The publication Unheated On Friday they understood the organization to be supported by financing the Solana Foundation.
The Solana Policy Institute is not officially associated with the Solana Foundation in Switzerland, which supports the acceptance and growth of the Solana network. However, their mandates are largely aligned.
The Solana Foundation did not respond Decrypts Repeated requests for comments about this.
DC’s growing crypto embrace
The creation of SPI comes only a few months after crypto-lobbyists have helped the most pro-crypto congress and administration so far, causing the efforts of the industry to rely on digital assets.
But even while legislators largely embrace Web3 companies under pro-Crypto-American president Donald Trump, some have kept decentralized financial players on the length of poor. The pseudonymous founders of the sector, meme coin makers and “shady super coder” are largely untrained in the kind of politics that companies have mastered centralized exchange legs hangs to promote their interests on Capitol Hill.
They also have less cash splashed at the Court of Supervisors and Wetgevers. In 2024, business crrypto-titans such as Coinbase, Ripple Labs and investment company Andreessen Horowitz were the top three donors to pro-Crypto Super PAC Fairshake, who assign more than $ 150 million to the group, according to open-secrets, according to OpenCrets, according to OpenCrets facts.
In the meantime, donors have linked to Solana, which was ranked as the 20th largest donor of the PAC and one of the largest deficial contributions, gave them alone $ 25,000 to the group last year, show the same data.
These factors may have kept Defi leaders from a few important decision-making spaces. In March, the Trump government organized more than a dozen crypto company leaders on its inaugural crypto -top in Washington DC Just a few Of the approximately two dozen guests, Defi projects represented.
Nevertheless, SPI founder Whitehouse-Levine is convinced that the Solana Policy Institute, led by experts such as Smith-one Fortune 40 under 40 in the government and political alumna and top lobbyist, according to the American political-oriented newsroom Hill– Defi will help enter more conversations on the hill.
“She is an icon in the crypto policy, and … As far as I am concerned, the basis of the efforts of the industry they have been built in the last eight years,” he said.
‘Meme Coin Casino’ makeover
But the reputation of Solana is not necessarily polished as that of Smith.
Founded in 2020, the network has partially put on a growing user base in the past year Plus via its so -called Meme Coin Casino, where it is one of the cheapest and easiest places to launch a token that shoots up just as quickly and then dives in value.
It is also a playground for something that sets people on fire or their own dead fake to pump tokens without intrinsic use, while state heads cannot process traders of the traders via social media.
That wave of antics is a high risk for the ability of the platform to make contact with supervisors and legislators, but Whitehouse-Levine believes that good policy can curb the impact of those incidents and help the ecosystem to reform the image of it.
“First things first, we can’t have people on fire,” he said Decrypt. “Like, I can’t believe we actually say that out loud.”
“There have been several speculative frenzies in the history of crypto, and insofar as that [a]Clear regulatory framework can help to bring that in, that is in everyone’s interests, “added Whitehouse-Levine.
However, in order for this type of legislation to be adopted, it is important that developers and legislators take the time to understand each other with the help of Go-Betweens such as Whitehouse-Levine, Smith and other policy experts, Defi Education Fund Executive Director Amanda Tuminelli which will work closely with Spi-Focused Policy Initiatives TLOL Decrypt.
“We all try to contact developers directly and to serve as a bridge between Defi developers and De Heuvel,” Tuminelli said.
“It is very important that we get a clear law on the books while we can, [and] Although the congress seems as if they are in a place where that could happen, “she said, adding that in recent months she has seen an increase in rules of securities and legislators that hold meetings about issues that influence Defi developers.
“I think people recognize that opportunity and put resources behind it,” Tuminelli added.
Published by James Rubin
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