Unchained

Will Solana Be the Execution Layer and Ethereum the Settlement Layer? - Ep.294

Nov 30, 2021

Anatoly Yakovenko and Raj Gokal, co-founders of Solana Labs, share insights on the evolving dynamics between Solana and Ethereum. They discuss Solana's ambition to become a billion-user blockchain and the impact of recent network outages. The duo emphasizes that such challenges can highlight resilience rather than setbacks. They also explore why NFTs on Solana have surged in popularity and speculate on the future roles of both networks as execution and settlement layers. Their vision points toward a collaborative, innovative future in decentralized finance.

01:08:34

Creator website

Episode guests

Raj Gokal

Anatoly Yakovenko

AI Chapters

Episode notes

Intro

2min

Navigating Solana's Growth and Challenges

21min

Navigating Growing Pains in Blockchain Networks

2min

Solana's Transaction Turmoil

7min

Future of Blockchain: Solana vs Ethereum

10min

Evolving Dynamics: Solana and Ethereum Coexistence

20min

The Future of Solana and the Power of Leadership

6min

On Unchained, two co-founders of Solana Labs, Anatoly Yakovenko and Raj Gokal, dive deeply into the Solana ecosystem, discussing everything from the price of SOL to the Solana network outage to the competition between Ethereum and Solana. Show highlights:

why Raj thinks SOL’s market cap grew from $86 million to $68 billion in less than a year
Anatoly’s and Raj’s background and how they found themselves working together to build Solana
why Anatoly thinks Solana will be a general-purpose blockchain rather than specializing in gaming or high frequency trading
Anatoly’s goal to make Solana the first billion-user blockchain
why Raj thinks NFTs on Solana have been so popular
why, in the opinion of Raj and Anatoly, Solana’s purpose has shifted away from high-frequency trading
how NFTs could replace ads
why “everything is DeFi”
how Solana Labs plans to allocate the recent $314 million funding round it raised
what lessons Anatoly learned from the 18-hour September network outage
technically speaking, what happened to cause Solana’s network outage
why Anatoly believes that outages, at this stage, aren’t necessarily a bad thing
whether “trading mercenaries” dominated at Solana Breakpoint
why developers are interested in building on Solana
how Solana and Ethereum compare as execution and settlement layers
why Raj doesn’t like framing competition between Solana and Ethereum as a fight
how Anatoly views the competition between Ethereum and Solana
whether the arrival of Neon Labs, which is bringing EVM to Solana, could lead to developers leaving Ethereum
how NFTs and Phantom wallets are bringing in new users for Solana
whether Raj and Anatoly would roll back Solana if something like Ethereum’s DAO hack were to occur
why Solana has the competitive advantage in throughput, according to Anatoly
what would happen if FTX cofounder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried gave up on Solana
their predictions for Solana five years from now