Original title: Solana Can't Host Conferences Anymore
Original author: @abhitejxyz
Compiled by: Peggy, BlockBeats
Editor's note: In December 2025, after Solana Breakpoint 2025 concluded in Abu Dhabi, entrepreneur Abhitej, who has long been deeply involved in the Solana ecosystem, wrote this article. As a co-founder of Filament Finance and a core builder at Bento.fun, he reflects on whether builders are still truly at the center after the event's scale-up, based on his firsthand experiences at Breakpoint.
The title seems sharp, but it is not a denial of the grand event; rather, it is a reminder from within the ecosystem: as Breakpoint evolves from a gathering dominated by early developers to a global event alongside the F1 Grand Prix and Bitcoin MENA, institutions, capital, and grand narratives continue to pour in. Are the true builders who are 'writing code with their heads down' diluted within it?
Unlike the macro judgments from external perspectives, Abhitej focuses on the factors that are hard to quantify yet determine the direction of the ecosystem—whether the culture remains open, whether the stage still belongs to builders, and whether participation remains low-threshold. The article does not attempt to provide standard answers but reminds us that Solana's vitality has never been about the stage and narrative, but rather about the developers who continue to build products quietly and genuinely around the world.
The original text is as follows:
I attended the first Breakpoint held in Lisbon, and four years later, I came to Abu Dhabi for the latest edition. During this time, industry giants have fallen, the price of SOL has completed multiple 'roller coaster' rides, and the frenzy of Memecoins has repeatedly tested the resilience of the entire ecosystem.
But as the Solana ecosystem begins to prepare for Breakpoint 2025, it has already established its position:
Leading in multiple core metrics such as transaction volume, application revenue, and DEX trading volume.
An ecosystem atmosphere with the most cultural awareness and closest connection to users.
To become the strongest, or at least one of the strongest, Builder ecosystems.
@joeljohn's article (Most used chain based on what?) also points out Solana's dominant position across multiple dimensions recently.
All of this is happening against a backdrop of an extremely brutal cycle for retail investors. Arbitrageurs have squeezed value to near its limits, while altcoins have underperformed the market, and net developer inflow has dropped to a low point. What this industry truly lacks is a spark of optimism, something that can remind people that the crypto world itself is still beautiful.
I believe that Breakpoint has ignited this match.
When I walked into the venue of Abu Dhabi Solana Breakpoint, the first feeling I had was not excitement, but a sense of an ongoing movement.
Not the kind of noisy, chaotic excitement. More like an undercurrent. A flowing force.
It does not feel like entering a conference. There is no tension, no deliberate social pressure, and no anxiety of 'I must be in the right room at the right time.' It is closer to a festival, a place where people are not coming to 'extract value' from each other, but truly to celebrate 'creation.'
People are smiling, chatting, and moving around freely. Developers, creators, founders, and institutions—everyone finds their place, and the overall balance is maintained.
This sense of harmony was evident from the very beginning. No single group was overly amplified: institutions did not dominate the narrative; creators were not treated as mascots; founders were not elevated to unattainable heights. Everyone appeared approachable.
And this fact itself is very rare.
As I stayed longer at Breakpoint, I increasingly felt that all of this was not accidental, but a result of deliberate design.
The agenda does not resemble top-down information dissemination: five-minute lightning talks, debates, product demonstrations, and dialogues. Short, sharp, and high information density. Allowing more people to be seen, rather than letting a few repeatedly occupy the stage. You can clearly feel that this is not a one-time inspiration, but the result of long-term iteration.
Breakpoint was not achieved overnight, but gradually explored 'what really works' through years of practice.
A brief exchange with @paarugsethi from Superteam India was enough to make one realize how deep Solana's ecosystem thinks about culture and the founder community.
Dissolving elitism.
But if I had to say one thing Solana does better than most ecosystems, it is that it has successfully dissolved elitism.
There is no invisible hierarchy here where 'only a few voices matter.' As long as you have genuinely created something of value, no matter how small, you can obtain a platform to showcase it.
This openness changes everything: it reduces fear, invites more people to participate, and ultimately forms momentum. And momentum will continue to compound.
After talking to more and more people, another characteristic became clear: there exists a shared sense of direction within the Solana ecosystem. It is not a dogmatic consensus, but rather a state of 'everyone moving forward together.' There are navigators, signal sources, and some are regarded as directional coordinates by others. For this reason, the ecosystem will not easily fracture.
In many ecosystems, people fight their own battles, narratives conflict with each other, gaps widen, and everyone endlessly debates 'what should be done,' yet hesitates to accept 'what is working.'
Solana's approach is different. If speculation works, it is accepted. If it aligns with the behavior of the new generation of the internet, it is studied rather than ridiculed. There is no moral superiority or whitewashing. Even memecoins, despite the chaos and predatory nature of that phase, have been seen as an accelerated experiment, a stress test for the internet capital market.
The system has crashed, some took the opportunity to arbitrage, and the lessons have been truly absorbed. Solana does not pretend that all of this never happened; instead, it has distilled cognition in a 'whole ecosystem' manner. This acceptance has actually freed up space for innovation rather than accumulating resentment.
The most prominent feeling this year is the extreme Builder-first approach of Breakpoint. The market has cooled down, prices are no longer frenzied, and the crowd of 'hundred-fold overnight' has significantly decreased. But it is precisely during such times that true builders begin to shine.
DeFi appears more mature; infrastructure discussions have returned to reality: the predictability of block space, latency optimization, and how to make application execution cheaper and more reliable.
You can see this change in specific products: Kalshi chose Solana as its tokenized infrastructure; Phantom supports consumer-facing interface experiences; Phoenix perpetual contracts, Prop AMM, new market designs; experiments in AI, robotics, and privacy; hackathons, Superteam projects, and those early ideas that still exist in rough form. People come to listen to shares to learn, not to ask 'how to pump this token.'
This energy shift is extremely important. It makes the entire conference feel solid, honest, and product-centered.
If I had to mention one discomfort, it would be that there are still some narrow mindsets in the ecosystem—'if it's not Solana-only, it's not worth paying attention to.'
This idea is not unique to Solana, but it will shrink the cake. The real opportunity is not to win a public chain war, but to reshape the entire tech stack. And that can only be achieved through collaboration, not posturing.
Ironically, Solana does not need to shout. Anyone who walks into Breakpoint can feel it directly. This ecosystem does not require mutual ridicule online. Products, culture, builders, momentum—they are already loud enough.
A 'festival'
This brings me back to my initial conclusion: Solana is no longer suitable for 'hosting conferences.' Conferences are one-way, static, and bounded. What Solana is doing aligns more with the native form of the new generation of the internet, a festival, a celebration that exists for builders. A space where culture, capital, experimental spirit, and belief collide.
And these 'festivals' will only continue to grow: more vibrant, more immersive, and more diverse. Every corner adds new flavors to this emerging internet.
Breakpoint 2025 is one of the best conferences I have ever attended, clearly showcasing where Solana is heading.
P.S.: In my opinion, choosing Abu Dhabi as the venue is one of the important reasons why Breakpoint 2025 is so special.
