Solana Co-Founder Caught in Lawsuit with Ex-Wife Over Multi-Million Dollar Crypto Assets
Date: 2024-12-30 Author: Gabriel Deangelo Categories: BUSINESS
Stephen Akridge, one of the founders of the popular blockchain platform Solana, has found himself in a legal dispute with his ex-wife, Eliza Rossi. She claims that Akridge misappropriated millions of dollars earned from staking Solana (SOL) tokens. The lawsuit was filed in San Francisco Superior Court, Bloomberg reports.
According to Rossi, Akridge used her cryptocurrency wallet to receive staking fees without telling her. While the exact amount of funds stolen was not disclosed, Rossi called it “significant.” The lawsuit also notes that some financial details of the case must remain confidential.
The lawsuit follows the couple's divorce, which was filed in February 2023 after 10 years of marriage. Rossi is seeking damages for breach of contract, unjust enrichment, and fraud.
Before joining Solana, Akridge was an engineer at Qualcomm Inc., where he collaborated with fellow co-founders Anatoly Yakovenko and Raj Gokal. Solana remains one of the leading platforms in the cryptocurrency market thanks to its fast transaction speeds and expanding ecosystem. Despite previous difficulties associated with the FTX collapse and Sam Bankman-Fried, Solana has regained its position, which has brought increased attention to the tokens featured in the lawsuit.
In parallel with the lawsuit, the platform continues to show success. In December, Solana’s decentralized exchange (DEX) trading volume was $107.865 billion, surpassing Binance Smart Chain ($91.444 billion) and Ethereum ($84.168 billion).
Solana also surpassed Ethereum in terms of new developers during the year. According to Electric Capital, the ecosystem attracted 7,625 developers, making it the platform’s number one growth platform in 2024, especially due to the activity of developers in Asia.
In addition, Solana temporarily surpassed Ethereum in network activity and daily transaction fees in March and October. Also in December, it was reported that renowned blockchain researcher Max Reznick had moved from ConsenSys to Solana-focused Anza.
The lawsuit, dubbed Rossi v. Akridge, continues to be in the spotlight both for its financial implications and as Solana’s popularity skyrockets.
