Interview with Solana Foundation President Lily Liu: The Expected and Unexpected About Solana
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Interview with Solana Foundation President Lily Liu: The Expected and Unexpected About Solana
Solana, having survived the ordeal, seems to be transforming, achieving astonishing growth surpassing market expectations through robust ecosystem vitality and creativity.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsInterviewee: Lily Liu, President of the Solana Foundation
Interviewer: flowie, ChainCatcher
Mable, former partner at Multicoin Capital, once recalled on a podcast that "Lily Liu joining Solana as president of the foundation" was a milestone that fundamentally changed Solana's trajectory.
Lily is highly respected in both core crypto circles and Silicon Valley venture capital. "Her joining will make many reevaluate Solana—ask themselves if they were too arrogant before."
Beyond her rich Wall Street background, Lily Liu has also spent over a decade deeply immersed in the crypto industry. After graduating from Stanford, she worked at Morgan Stanley’s Hong Kong investment banking division, McKinsey, and KKR, and participated in a private hospital startup in China.
In 2013, after Bobby, co-founder of Bitcoin China, introduced her to Bitcoin, Lily Liu entered the crypto space and later helped public company Earn.com survive a financial crisis.
Like Mable, many in the crypto community are curious about how Solana co-founders Anatoly and Raj managed to convince Lily Liu.
Lily Liu’s decision to join Solana wasn’t immediate. Though she had known Anatoly and Raj for years, it wasn't until receiving their third invitation in 2021 that she officially joined.
The turning point came from an unforgettable user experience: “You press, and it happens.” Lily discovered that Solana offered extremely fast transaction speeds and near-zero costs—providing a user experience comparable to Web2 products. “This is one of the prerequisites for blockchain mass adoption.”
After joining Solana, Lily focused on expanding its non-U.S. markets, especially growth in Chinese-speaking regions. Under her leadership, breakthroughs quickly emerged in India and other non-U.S. markets. The organization she helped build, Superteam, now spans more than 15 countries and regions.
For Lily Liu, 2023 was a year filled with immense challenges—and opportunities.
When Lily joined Solana in 2021, the network was at its peak, with its token price soaring to over $200, hitting an all-time high. But by late 2022, following the FTX collapse—given Solana’s close ties—the price plummeted to $8.
At the time, media and crypto users alike debated whether “Solana would die.” Even Anatoly grew pessimistic, but Lily remained optimistic, believing this was only a temporary shock.
In the second half of 2023, Solana made a strong comeback. Key metrics such as TVL, on-chain activity, DEX daily trading volume, and NFT trading volume surged significantly—often surpassing Ethereum and even the combined L2 volumes.
Solana’s ecosystem continues to demonstrate astonishing vitality. Beyond thriving in LSD, DeFi, and DePIN, recently it has ignited a new meme frenzy, drawing massive user inflows with jaw-dropping wealth stories. Solana’s token price also broke past the $200 mark again after 27 months.
What exactly did Solana do right? What are its strategic plans for 2024?
In a recent interview with ChainCatcher, Lily Liu said continuous technological innovation and community building are the core reasons behind Solana’s resilience. In 2024, Solana will focus heavily on payments, stablecoins, RWA, DePIN, and AI+Crypto.
With Hong Kong opening up its crypto market, Solana will actively expand its Chinese-speaking community, aiming to become the must-choose and preferred public chain for Asian applications.
From Bitcoin Maximalist to President of the Solana Foundation
1. ChainCatcher: How did you first get involved with blockchain? What were some key personal experiences prior to that?
Lily: In 2013, I was working in Shanghai when my good friend and Stanford alum Bobby Lee mentioned Bitcoin to me. Bobby Lee is a co-founder of “Bitcoin China” and quite influential in the Bitcoin space.
Initially, I misunderstood Bitcoin, thinking it was just a tool for money laundering, and even advised Bobby not to get involved. But over the next few months, Bobby persistently recommended Bitcoin to me. I began sensing it had almost a religious appeal.
Though I’m not technically trained, reading the Bitcoin whitepaper made me realize it was an interesting concept. So in 2014, I joined Bobby’s company, Bitcoin China—one of the three major exchanges at the time, alongside OKX, Huobi, and Bitcoin China.
But after working there for three or four months, I returned to the U.S. and met Balaji S. Srinivasan, who was also influential in blockchain. His mining company, 21 Inc., was facing financial difficulties, and he invited me to help alleviate the pressure. Later, the company rebranded as Earn.com and was acquired by Coinbase in 2018.
Before getting into blockchain, I spent most of my time in traditional finance, and I also lived and worked in China for about five to six years. Although I was born in the U.S., I’ve always been deeply interested in Chinese culture.
After Stanford, my career began at Morgan Stanley’s Hong Kong investment bank. Around 2005, I joined McKinsey, and in my third year there, I moved from New York to Beijing. Soon after, I joined private equity firm KKR, and around 2011, through KKR, I got another opportunity to work in Shanghai.
Due to my work at KKR, I participated in a private hospital startup. I connected with the “Frist” family from Tennessee, who were launching a private hospital in China, and I became involved in their international-standard hospital project in Cixi, Zhejiang Province, overseeing acquisitions and construction.
It was during my time in Shanghai that I was introduced to blockchain through Bobby, and I’ve since spent over ten years contributing to the blockchain space.
2. ChainCatcher: As a Bitcoin maximalist, why did you choose Solana in 2021? How did Solana co-founders Anatoly Yakovenko and Raj Gokas initially reach out to you, and what did they hope you could bring?
Lily: Around 2017, San Francisco was a central hub for blockchain, hosting frequent crypto-themed gatherings. That’s where I first met Anatoly Yakovenko and Raj Gokas at one of these events.
At the time, Solana was in its initial fundraising phase. One of their investors was also my friend, and he set up a meeting with me, saying Solana would be the largest public infrastructure in the future, and asking if I’d consider joining.
Later, after leaving Earn.com and taking a break, I ran into Anatoly by chance. But back then, I was still a staunch Bitcoin maximalist, and after our discussion, I still believed nothing outside Bitcoin really mattered.
It wasn’t until early 2021 that I became curious about the progress in the public chain space and what innovations existed. At that time, another investor friend recommended Solana to me.
I started experimenting with Solana and found its user experience was nearly identical to Web2 products—“you press, it happens,” fast and virtually free. This dramatically changed my perception of blockchain, which previously meant transactions taking up to an hour and expensive gas fees.
Solana sparked intense interest in me. In early 2021, I met up with friends in San Francisco, and whenever we discussed Solana, we’d talk for hours. It reminded me of 2013, when my friend Bobby first introduced me to Bitcoin with the same kind of excitement.
At the time, the crypto market was entering a bull run, and crypto conferences were popping up everywhere. At a Bitcoin conference in Miami, I unexpectedly sat next to Anatoly Yakovenko and Raj Gokas, whom I hadn’t seen in years. They asked about my recent activities—I had just returned to Silicon Valley and was contemplating starting a new venture.
They asked if I’d be interested in supporting Solana part-time. I did want to return to the blockchain industry to learn more. So initially, I started working part-time for Solana, dedicating about 10 hours a week, gradually increasing my involvement until I became president of the Solana Foundation, responsible for the entire foundation’s operations.
3. ChainCatcher: How did your shift happen—from being a Bitcoin maximalist to becoming deeply interested in Solana?
Lily: First, I’ve always believed blockchain needs to offer a Web2-like user experience to achieve mass adoption. Historically, blockchain experiences have suffered from long transaction times and high costs. Solana showed me that large-scale adoption might actually be possible.
Second, beyond user experience, I was impressed by Solana’s strategic determination to build a non-EVM chain. While most public chains followed the EVM path, Solana stayed committed to its long-term vision of high performance, pushing for greater technical innovation and breakthroughs.
Additionally, I believe for any blockchain project—especially public chains—technology, community culture, and financial viability are the three core pillars. Very few projects achieve all three well. Besides Bitcoin and Ethereum, Solana stands out as one of the best.
4. ChainCatcher: From working part-time at Solana to becoming president of the Solana Foundation, what has been your main focus? What role does the Solana Foundation play within Solana?
Lily: Initially, my responsibilities weren’t clearly defined—I participated in strategic initiatives, investments, and various areas.
Later, I reflected on what value I could bring to Solana. Solana started as a U.S.-based startup, primarily targeting the U.S. and parts of Europe. But a blockchain company should be global.
So I wanted to help grow Solana’s presence in non-U.S. markets. We first expanded into India, but instead of branding it as “Solana India,” I supported several community members to form an organization called Superteam to lead the expansion. Today, it operates in 15 countries. This is what I consider my most significant contribution since joining the Solana Foundation.
Overall, Solana should be an open platform. The Solana Foundation is just one entity within the ecosystem, focused on community growth and playing a supportive role—helping community projects and organizations thrive so they can eventually operate independently.
Solana’s Recovery Was Expected
5. ChainCatcher: By the end of 2022, due to the FTX black swan event, Solana dropped below $10. There was widespread speculation about Solana’s survival, and Anatoly recently admitted in an interview he was very pessimistic, doubting Solana would succeed.
What worried your core team the most at that time? Did you immediately make any critical decisions?
Lily: First, Solana’s DeFi ecosystem. FTX supported many Solana infrastructure projects—for example, many Solana DeFi assets relied on FTX’s cross-chain bridge. After FTX collapsed, roughly $40 million worth of assets were wiped out.
Second, many projects on Solana had received funding from FTX, and some even held up to 75% of their assets on FTX. When FTX failed, those funds vanished. The crypto market also entered a bear phase, making fundraising extremely difficult—an enormous financial strain on many ecosystem projects.
Also, the overall narrative turned sharply against Solana, claiming many projects were leaving. In reality, the exodus wasn’t as dramatic—only about two or three top projects migrated. Still, our PR faced a serious challenge.
From November to December 2022, our sole focus was helping affected ecosystem projects survive. Then came ongoing issues—Solana experienced another outage in March 2023.
6. ChainCatcher: In the one or two months after FTX collapsed, was your ecosystem really suffering heavy losses, as media reported?
Lily: No, developer numbers didn’t drop much post-FTX. From January to February 2023, our hackathon participation was actually higher than historical averages.
Now, our monthly active developers have rebounded to around 3,000, compared to about 2,000 during the bear market.
7. ChainCatcher: A visible recovery for Solana seemed to occur around October 2023—the month of Solana’s annual Breakpoint event. Core metrics like price, TVL, on-chain activity, DEX daily trading volume, and NFT trading volume surged. Did you anticipate this rebound?
Lily: Yes, we did expect it. I understand that from the outside, especially in Asian communities, people wonder how a project like Solana, once deemed near-death, suddenly rose again.
But in fact, after the FTX collapse, Solana achieved major technical advancements—most notably state compression. Minting 100,000 NFTs costs $500,000 on Ethereum but only $100 on Solana.
State compression drastically reduces blockchain usage costs and expands innovation potential, enabling broader applications. Initially, only core developers fully grasped the significance of this breakthrough.
We anticipated it would take the broader market about a year to absorb this technical leap.
Beyond technical innovation, I believe Solana also benefited from a key opportunity in 2023: Hong Kong’s embrace of blockchain technology.
I see two major markets in blockchain: the U.S. and the Chinese-speaking world. Both possess abundant talent and capital. Western markets led by the U.S. excel in technology and infrastructure, while Chinese-speaking markets excel in applications due to massive user traffic.
I remember discussing with Anatoly in a 2019 phone call how to enter the Chinese-speaking market. But in 2021 and 2022, that market wasn’t welcoming to blockchain, so I waited for the right moment.
In 2023, with Hong Kong embracing blockchain, Solana finally had the opportunity to grow in the Chinese-speaking region.
8. ChainCatcher: What role did Breakpoint play in Solana’s resurgence?
Lily: The Solana Breakpoint conference is an annual showcase for the Solana community, allowing more crypto users to deeply perceive Solana’s innovations and ecosystem progress.
Crypto is a remote-work industry that greatly benefits from physical gatherings—places where people can come together and truly feel the energy. After over a decade in crypto, I’ve realized that understanding a project or ecosystem often comes down to a feeling—being present, experiencing whether the ecosystem is genuinely innovating and whether its culture resonates with you.
9. ChainCatcher: Have you reviewed what Solana did right to recover within a year after the FTX crisis?
Lily: The earlier-mentioned innovations like state compression and high-performance developments were part of Solana’s long-term roadmap. We’ve consistently pushed forward with development.
For example, at the end of 2023, the Solana Foundation invested in a crucial project called Firedancer, developed by an independent team aiming to boost Solana’s TPS into the hundreds of thousands.
I believe the most important thing for Solana as a public network is continuously meeting developers’ needs—constant development and technical refinement. This doesn’t change due to external market shocks. This is the core reason Solana maintains its resilience.
10. ChainCatcher: Beyond technology, many crypto KOLs attribute Solana’s full recovery to its strong community vitality.
How does the Solana team and foundation maintain healthy interactions with developers and the broader community? How does your community culture differ from other public chains?
Lily: To understand differences in public chain community cultures, think about cultural differences between countries or cities—like Guangdong versus Northeast China.
The origin of Solana’s community culture lies mainly in co-founders Anatoly and Raj’s personalities. Though simple, their influence is profound—they’re deeply technical and sincere, traits reflected throughout the Solana community atmosphere.
Compared to many public chains, Solana emphasizes organizational and ecosystem concepts more. Many chains resemble traditional companies.
A company centralizes resources for efficiency and goals. An ecosystem aims to decentralize resources to where the community needs them, ensuring health and balance. Long-term, the ecosystem model has far greater growth potential than the company model.
The Solana Foundation’s goal over the next three to five years is to hand over development and key projects entirely to the community. Of course, we set short-term goals every six months to support community growth.
11. ChainCatcher: What areas do your six-month goals typically cover, and what support do you provide to the community?
Lily: We assess what new products or application trends are emerging.
For example, in 2024, we see strategic importance in financial areas like payments, RWA, stablecoins, and DeFi, and also recognize the need for strategic positioning in emerging fields like DePIN.
On one hand, we consider whether the Solana community needs to innovate technically around these use cases. On the other, we explore how to support community growth or organizational development in these areas.
The Solana Foundation also provides financial support—mainly through grants, though we may also invest in certain projects.
12. ChainCatcher: Some say the FTX collapse reshuffled the Solana community, leading to healthier development. What changes did the crash and bear market bring to the Solana community?
Lily: If given the choice, I’d prefer this crisis never happened. But since it did, we learned a deep lesson in crypto: as long as you don’t die, you can survive. Sometimes, the goal is simply not to die.
Solana’s 2024 Highlight Is “Payments”
13. Solana’s ecosystem has not only recovered in DeFi, NFTs, and LSD, but also gained significant attention and wealth effects in new narratives like inscriptions, DePIN, and memes.
Which areas will you prioritize supporting? What are your key plans for 2024?
Lily: Beyond payments, stablecoins, RWA, and DePIN, we’re also bullish on the AI+Crypto space. On one hand, AI needs decentralized GPUs for compute power; on the other, AI governance is crucial—AI generates information, while crypto proves it.
14. ChainCatcher: Are there any areas of Solana’s development that surprised you?
Lily: The Saga phone—we almost gave up on it. But after Bonk took off, it sold out thousands of units per week.
Around 2018, we kept thinking about how crypto adoption could help users earn money while delivering great security and user experience. Eventually, we concluded a crypto hardware phone was needed to offer users various earning opportunities.
Another motivation: users face many pain points with regular phones. Many apps lose 20–30% of revenue to Apple’s fees; and users’ personal assets and data face privacy and security risks.
So we believed a crypto phone needed to exist—even if not built by Solana, someone else should do it.
But initially, we weren’t clear on the phone’s design or roadmap—we learned by doing, iterating as we went.
15. ChainCatcher: Inscriptions ignited the Bitcoin ecosystem but faced criticism from core Bitcoin developers. As a former Bitcoin purist, do you view this with optimism or skepticism?
Lily: I’ve always hoped Bitcoin would become a global financial payment network. The 2017 SegWit upgrade brought significant innovation to Bitcoin. So I’m very interested in this new wave of innovation in the Bitcoin ecosystem.
Currently, some projects in the Solana ecosystem are expanding into Bitcoin—such as Zeus Vetwork, a Taiwan-based project building a bridge from Bitcoin to Solana. I look forward to more innovative applications emerging.
16. ChainCatcher: Solana has long been labeled the “Ethereum killer.” After going through its low point, how do you now define Solana’s role in the public chain landscape?
Lily: I see Bitcoin as its own category—it’s both infrastructure and application. Chains like Ethereum are more about serving applications—as technical platforms. Technical platforms require product thinking.
We need to make public chain technology usable. That’s why last year we launched Solana Pay and compressed NFTs, and recently introduced a new SPL token standard, “Token Extensions,” to support RWA assets.
But I also believe such infrastructure isn’t just a technical platform—it’s like a city, needing its own culture. We need to cultivate that city’s culture.
Long-term, I don’t believe crypto will become as centralized and monopolized as traditional internet—where one company like Google captures 90% of the market. Crypto will likely need hundreds of different “cities”—different public chains—all working toward returning control of assets and data to users.
17. ChainCatcher: What major challenges does Solana still face in the future?
Lily: Recently, Solana still experienced outages. We must ensure this doesn’t happen again, because the financial industry demands high network stability.
Additionally, how can we improve business growth and expansion? Currently, we’re focusing heavily on payments and aim to integrate Solana payments into many large enterprises.
Making Solana the Go-To Public Chain for Asian Applications
18. ChainCatcher: Solana’s Breakpoint conference will come to Asia for the first time this September. Why Asia this year? Do you have further expansion plans for Chinese-speaking regions?
Lily: Helping Solana expand in Chinese-speaking regions is a key mission for both Solana and myself. Last year, as policies opened up in Hong Kong and elsewhere, we immediately established developer communities in these regions, hoping promising applications could emerge.
Chinese-speaking regions have massive traffic—the user base for applications could reach millions, tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions. They need a high-performance public chain as infrastructure, but currently, their options are limited.
We hope that as strong applications emerge from Chinese-speaking regions, Solana can become their default or preferred public chain.
19. ChainCatcher: Since first engaging with blockchain in 2013, you’ve lived through multiple bull and bear cycles. What advice would you share with entrepreneurs in this current bull market?
Lily: Bull markets usually last 18 months—entrepreneurs should make the most of this cycle.
On one hand, the key during a bull market is attracting talent and capital—concentrating them in the ecosystem rather than the foundation. On the other, it’s an ideal time for expansion and market growth.
For example, since last year, Solana has prioritized growth and major partnerships. In September last year, Solana announced a collaboration with payment giant Visa, and we’ll continue pursuing large-scale partnerships this year.
I hope more talent and innovation flows into Solana, and I look forward to seeing more Chinese-speaking entrepreneurs achieve massive growth and breakthroughs in this bull market.
Conclusion
During the last bull market, Solana—hailed as the “Ethereum killer”—briefly ranked among the top three in crypto market cap, yet struggled to shake off suspicions of being propped up by powerful capital.
This bull market, however, Solana—having survived the storm—appears to be transforming, achieving astonishing growth beyond market expectations through strong ecosystem vitality and creativity. Whether Solana can once again exceed imagination remains to be seen.
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