Solana More Decentralized than Ethereum, Maybe Even Bitcoin: SOL Co-founder ⋆ ZyCrypto

Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko has stated that his cryptocurrency network is more decentralized than Ethereum and perhaps even Bitcoin itself. Yakovenko made these comments in a recent tweet, which stirred a lot of online debate about the controversial take. Solana is currently trading below $80 after losing around 5% of its value over the last 24 hours, following the start of major hostilities in the Middle East.

The Solana pioneer tweeted:

Ethereum vs Solana

The debate over the level of decentralization in individual crypto networks is not new. According to Solana proponents, the network exceeds Ethereum in decentralization due to its thousands of independent validators and Proof of History cryptographic clock. They claim that Solana’s overall operation is closer to Bitcoin’s and clearly ahead of Ethereum’s centralized alternative.

However, Ethereum proponents argue that Solana has only 800-1,500 active validators, compared with Ethereum’s over 1 million. One user responded to Yakovenko’s post:

But another user countered this narrative and tweeted:

Solana has long tried to position itself as Ethereum 2.0, as the older network has continued to struggle with scaling issues. Solana’s on-chain activity has dwarfed Ethereum’s in recent memory, even as the market reels from a major price squeeze that has forced many smaller crypto networks into oblivion.

Solana also commands a higher Nakamoto Coefficient (ranging roughly between 19–34) compared to Ethereum’s (often estimated around 2–25), suggesting that, despite fewer total nodes, Solana’s stake is sometimes more distributed among validators, while Ethereum’s staking is concentrated in bigger entities like Lido or major crypto exchange platforms. 

Yakovenko Steps Up Solana PR

Solana’s Nakamoto coefficient is even higher than Bitcoin’s, which is prompting Yakovenko to claim that it surpasses even the largest crypto by market capitalization in decentralization. However, the comparison is not accurate, as Bitcoin has a Proof of Work (PoW) ecosystem considered harder to beat than Proof of Stake (PoS) alternatives such as Ethereum and Solana. 

The Solana co-founder has previously pointed out Solana’s unique architecture. Back in August 2025, he stated:

“A permissionlessly run full node is all anyone needs to participate in any part of the stack. There is no way for the rest of the network to steal the user’s funds, unlike a security council multisig. That’s the difference,”

However, Solana has had its fair share of technical challenges and shortcomings over time, famously being sensitive to DDOS attacks.