Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko has thrown cold water on the idea that SOL's function as a currency drives its price. In a recent statement, Yakovenko described SOL's role as a currency as 'generally net zero' — meaning it adds little to the token's value. He argued that liquidity matters far more than what denomination the market uses to trade.
Why Yakovenko downplays SOL as currency
Speaking about the Solana ecosystem's native token, Yakovenko suggested that whether people use SOL directly for payments or simply hold it as a speculative asset doesn't shift the underlying economics much. His point: a token's liquidity — how easily it can be bought and sold — is what really determines its usefulness and, by extension, its value. The denomination itself, he indicated, is almost incidental.
That's a notable stance from a co-founder of a blockchain that processes transactions faster and cheaper than older networks like Ethereum. Solana has long been pitched as a high-performance platform for decentralized apps, with SOL as the fuel for fees and staking. But Yakovenko's comments suggest the team sees little upside in pushing SOL as a day-to-day currency for buying coffee or paying bills.
Liquidity trumps denomination
Yakovenko zeroed in on liquidity as the real driver. In crypto markets, a token with deep liquidity attracts more traders and developers, which can create a virtuous cycle. If SOL is easy to trade in and out of, the thinking goes, its value will reflect that utility — not whether someone chooses to denominate a transaction in SOL rather than USDC or another stablecoin.
His remarks echo a broader debate in crypto: should layer-1 tokens behave like money, or are they better thought of as a resource for securing and using the network? Bitcoin maximalists argue a digital gold must be a store of value and medium of exchange. Solana's co-founder appears to be taking a more pragmatic view — that the token's price is driven by market mechanics, not by its monetary role.
What this means for Solana developers
For builders on Solana, Yakovenko's statement could shape how they design applications. If the network's co-founder doesn't think SOL's currency function matters much, developers may lean toward stablecoin-based payments or wrapped assets rather than pushing SOL as the go-to transactional token. That could affect how much SOL is actually used — and whether its demand stays tied to staking and fee burning rather than everyday spending.
The comment also comes as Solana works to recover from network outages and rebuild developer confidence. A focus on liquidity over currency status might help attract market makers and institutional interest, which the ecosystem needs to stay competitive.
Yakovenko didn't offer any new data or research to back up the claim. He simply stated the view as his own, leaving the community to debate whether SOL's monetary role is really as neutral as he suggests.
