Anatoly Yakovenko, co-founder of Solana, criticized Coinbase's Base expansion strategy, attacking the Ethereum layer-2 network, claiming the new bridge is merely 'alignment bullshit'.
Yakovenko emphasized that cross-chain bridges are not a very neutral infrastructure, as these bridges play a role in capturing value, determining where fees are set, and developing to benefit certain groups.
Solana rejected Base's message of unity
Yakovenko challenges that Base should move its calculations to Solana to accumulate fees and various economic activities at Solana validators
"Move the Base app to Solana so that it operates on Solana and has transactions processed by block validators staking on Solana, which would be good for Solana developers, otherwise it's alignment bullshit," he said
This dispute was sparked after Pollak revealed past integrations, which he described as a 'two-way' tool for unlocking shared liquidity
"We built this as a two-way bridge. The whole purpose is to unlock two-way movement because we heard from the team at Solana that they want access to Base and from the Base team that they want access to Solana. We want to make that possible," Pollak emphasized
However, Yakovenko rejected this notion, warning that 'alignment' is just marketing to obscure capital outflows
So he called on Base to market this bridge honestly as a competitive strategy rather than as a collaboration
"Ethereum L2s have to play alignment bs because activity on L2 will attract from Ethereum L1, but why not be honest about it so it has a whiff of bullshit," Yakovenko said
Executives from the Solana Foundation like Vibhu Norby and Akshay BD have criticized this bridge, saying that Base completely bypassed Solana's technical and marketing teams
They also claim that the withdrawn network released products without any partners launching on Solana at all
At the same time, they referenced personal communications where Base leaders discussed 'transforming' Solana as proactive evidence
"We are happy to engage in commercial discussions with you seriously... but do not want a presentation filled with irrelevant metaphors," BD said
However, Pollak defended the project, claiming that his team spent up to nine months building the connection to meet the needs of developers on both sides
He claimed that the conflict arose from failed communications and insisted that this bridge allows contributions to flow freely where there are opportunities
If you are a builder on Solana, we sincerely welcome you, and there are no expectations or demands for you to move to Base. We just want your contributions to meet the growing demands at Base and to make that process as easy as possible," Pollak explained
However, market observers see a more concerning pattern
NFT historian Leonidas noted that Base used propaganda in alignment form on Ethereum in 2023 to attract developer interest before pivoting to its own underlying economy
The new campaign from Coinbase/Base to attract the Solana ecosystem also feels disingenuous. If the Solana ecosystem agrees to propaganda in alignment form, like the Ethereum L1 ecosystem has done, it deserves similar outcomes," Leonidas said
Solana and Base have become two of the fastest-growing blockchain networks. They are directly competing for assets, liquidity, and developer activity
They hold a total locked value of nearly 20 billion USD, with Solana accounting for approximately 12 billion USD while Base holds about 6 billion USD according to DeFiLlama
