Exclusive: Anza Co-Founder Responds to Solana Centralization Concerns

The Solana blockchain crew has moved some team members from one of its divisions to a new entity called Anza.

Anza co-founder Jeff Washington, a former engineer at Solana Labs, announced this move on Tuesday, revealing the team’s focus on improving the performance of a Solana Labs validator client called Agave.

The Anza team also plans to enhance Solana’s existing infrastructure and develop new applications and products.

1/ We’re thrilled to announce Anza — a next-gen, @Solana focused dev shop.https://t.co/QFx6gxTU7z

Founded by execs & engineers from @SolanaLabs, Anza will build a forked validator client called Agave & contribute to major Solana protocols.

— Anza (@anza_xyz) January 30, 2024

Anza’s Launch a Part of Solana’s Long-Term Vision, Co-Founder says

On the day of Anza’s launch, Fortune Crypto reported that Solana formed a new entity to address concerns about centralization.

About half of Solana Labs’ 100 employees moved to advance the blockchain’s credibility as a decentralized ecosystem, Fortune said.

However, Washington described Fortune’s report as inaccurate. He told Cryptonews:

“Anza has been part of the long-term vision, and work on the project in earnest began in Spring 2022. Today’s launch is unrelated to any happenings in the industry.”

He confirmed that Anza — a “Solana-focused dev shop,” comprises several core engineers from Solana Labs.

The new team will also become “core contributors to other projects within the ecosystem,” he added.

Washington, Stephen Akridge, Jed Halfon, Amber Christiansen, Pankaj Garg, Jon Cinque, and several engineers from Solana Labs make up Anza’s founding team.

How FTX Woes Affected Solana’s Token

Solana’s move to form a new entity follows a year of regulatory scrutiny triggered by FTX’s downfall in 2022.

Further, SOL, Solana’s native token, was associated with the “Sam Coins” tag, as disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried backed it.

Towards the end of FTX’s days, it emerged that sister desk Alameda Research held about $1.2b worth of SOL. This made it its second-largest holding after FTT, FTX’s native token. When this news broke, SOL’s value dropped over 40% in a week amid market concerns.

Still, Solana has bounced back and traded at around $104 at the time of writing.

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