Solana Must Keep Evolving or Die, Says Co-Founder Anatoly Yakovenko

TLDR:

• Yakovenko declares Solana must never stop iterating to remain relevant and useful to developers and users.
• Protocol changes should solve real problems rather than please everyone, requiring careful selection of priorities.
• Future Solana versions may come from new contributors beyond Anza, Labs, or Foundation Development teams.
• SIMD governance votes could eventually fund GPU resources needed for writing code and protocol improvements.

Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko has declared that the blockchain protocol must continue evolving to survive. 

He emphasized that stagnation equals death for any protocol that fails to adapt to developer and user requirements. 

Yakovenko stressed the importance of continuous iteration while maintaining decentralized development across multiple teams rather than relying on single entities.

Protocol Evolution Requires Solving Real Problems

Yakovenko outlined his vision for Solana’s future development in a detailed statement on social media. He made clear that the protocol cannot depend on any single group or individual for its advancement. 

The network must remain materially useful to both developers and users to justify its existence. According to Yakovenko, developers who earn from transactions on Solana should contribute improvements back to the open-source protocol.

The co-founder argued that protocol changes should target specific developer or user problems. However, he acknowledged that solving every problem would prove impossible and potentially harmful. 

Making difficult choices about which issues to address represents a necessary part of maintaining protocol integrity. The selection process requires careful evaluation of what serves the broader ecosystem best.

Yakovenko suggested that successful developers might eventually use spare resources to fund protocol improvements. 

He envisions a scenario where profitable development work generates enough revenue for contributors to reinvest in the platform. 

This model would create a self-sustaining cycle of improvement driven by actual usage and value creation.

Decentralized Development Teams Will Drive Future Iterations

The Solana co-founder emphasized that future versions should not necessarily come from Anza, Labs, or Foundation Development (FD). 

He believes the protocol should evolve beyond its founding organizations as the ecosystem matures. New contributors could emerge to lead development efforts as the network grows and diversifies. 

This approach would reduce dependency on original teams while encouraging broader participation.

Yakovenko presented a forward-looking scenario where governance mechanisms directly fund development work. He mentioned that SIMD votes might eventually pay for the computing resources needed to write code. 

This structure would align protocol upgrades with community preferences expressed through voting mechanisms. 

The system would create direct connections between governance decisions and technical implementation.

The co-founder’s comments reflect a philosophy that prioritizes practical utility over theoretical perfection. He stressed that Solana must serve developers who build gainful employment from network transactions. 

The protocol’s survival depends on maintaining this usefulness across changing market conditions and technological landscapes. Yakovenko concluded that there will always be a next version of Solana waiting to emerge.

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