One in every of Washington’s high crypto lobbyists is establishing the nation’s first nonprofit targeted on the pursuits of Solana, the favored blockchain that has emerged lately as an important hub for meme coin buying and selling and decentralized finance.
Miller Whitehouse-Levine, who beforehand headed the DeFi Schooling Fund, introduced Monday he has began the Solana Coverage Institute and can function its inaugural CEO. The Solana Coverage Institute describes itself as a nonpartisan nonprofit advocating for decentralized networks like Solana that “are the long run infrastructure of the digital financial system.”
Whitehouse-Levine informed Decrypt that due to the digital asset business’s newfound political cache in D.C., now appeared like a key second to make sure the pursuits of a blockchain as well-liked and essential as Solana have been being correctly represented in interactions with lawmakers.
“That is the second for crypto coverage,” he mentioned. “Of us in Washington are taking a better have a look at crypto’s use instances and advantages, and I strongly consider now could be the second to form sensible regulation.”
2025 has already seen an unprecedented flurry of crypto-related strikes within the nation’s capitol. President Donald Trump has signed a number of crypto-related govt orders since returning to workplace, and is anticipated to signal extra. Each chambers of Congress are at the moment advancing a number of items of crypto laws at breakneck pace, and the lawmakers behind these payments have expressed optimism a few of them may very well be signed into regulation by the summer season’s finish.
Because the political energy of the crypto business has grown significantly over the past 12 months, so too has the centrality of Solana to the broader crypto ecosystem.
Final 12 months, thanks largely to the proliferation of Solana-based meme coin platforms like Pump.enjoyable, the blockchain noticed an explosion of exercise. In line with one report, crypto’s high networks noticed 220 million energetic tackle makes use of on a month-to-month foundation in 2024. Practically half of these addresses—a full 100 million—have been on Solana alone. The following closest competitor, Ethereum layer-2 community Base, noticed 22 million.
Like many decentralized blockchains, Solana’s operations and mission are supported by a nonprofit group, the Solana Basis. The Solana Basis, although, which relies in Switzerland, will not be formally affiliated with the Solana Coverage Institute, an individual acquainted with the matter informed Decrypt.
Whitehouse-Levine is at the moment the Solana Coverage Institute’s sole worker. The workforce plans to develop quickly.
Edited by James Rubin
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