Yakovenko’s ‘adapt or die’ warning lands as Solana RWAs hit $1B

Solana Labs CEO Anatoly Yakovenko has pushed back against Ethereum Founder Vitalik Buterin’s calls for a “walkaway test.”

Meanwhile, the Solana network has hit a different milestone. Real-world assets (RWAs) on the network have crossed $1 billion in market capitalization. Can this growth support further upside for SOL, or will decentralization depend on sentiment?

A clash of philosophies at the top

Yakovenko recently argued that blockchains cannot afford to stand still. In his view, networks (Solana, in particular) must continue to evolve, upgrade, and adapt to the needs of developers and users to remain relevant. That means having people around, constantly.

In his X post, he stated,

AMBCrypto previously reported Buterin’s view that Ethereum [ETH] should eventually function for decades without active developer intervention. The idea was to put decentralization over rapid change.

RWAs give Solana an edge

On the other hand, the market capitalization of RWAs on Solana [SOL] has surpassed $1 billion, per Token Terminal data.

Tokenised funds, equities, and commodities on Solana are up roughly 560% year-on-year, so adoption is far beyond memecoins and consumer apps. Builders and institutions now seem comfortable with deploying real financial products on Solana’s infrastructure.

Can price keep the pace?

At press time, SOL was consolidating near the mid-$140s after failing to sustain a push higher.

On the daily chart, price was above its short-term MAs, but still below the 100- and 200-day EMAs; upside momentum is present but capped.

The RSI showed neither overbought nor oversold conditions, while the MACD went flat after a recent bullish phase.

A clean break above the $148-$150 resistance zone could reopen the way to higher levels. Failure to hold current support may cause a pullback before any rally.

Final Thoughts

• Solana’s $1B RWA milestone makes its case stronger, but SOL needs a decisive breakout to kick off price momentum.
• The Solana vs Ethereum debate now hinges on execution and growth.