I saw an interesting analysis from Arkham about the wealth accumulated by Anatoly Yakovenko, the co-founder of Solana. The figures are quite impressive – we're talking about a range between $500 million and $1.2 billion.

What’s fascinating is to see how this wealth was built. At the launch of Solana, 500 million SOL tokens were created, and the founding team received 12.5%. But Yakovenko didn’t stop there. It’s suspected that the address 9QgXq belongs to him, with over 136,000 SOL in the wallet. Between August and November 2024, this account made significant moves – more than 3 million SOL were transferred, including 1.5 million reinvested elsewhere. If these calculations are correct, that’s about $122 million in SOL holdings at the current price.

But wait, there’s more. Yakovenko owns between 5% and 10% of Solana Labs itself. The company has raised funds from major players – a16z, Polychain Capital, Multicoin Capital – and its valuation is around $5 to $8 billion. That places his stake between $250 million and $800 million. Given that SOL recently traded at $91, you can see how the co-founder built a massive position within the ecosystem.

What also interests me is his role as an angel investor. Anatoly Yakovenko has invested in over 40 projects within the Solana ecosystem – Jito Labs, Drift Protocol, Helius, and others. That’s the kind of diversification you see with true builders, not just speculators.

The wealth accumulated by Yakovenko really reflects the evolution of Solana as a platform. It’s a good reminder that co-founders who stay engaged and invest in the ecosystem tend to benefit from long-term success.