Who will carry the Solana banner? A review of candidates for Solana's "Tom Lee".

Source: BlockBeats

Original title: These 6 people are becoming the Tom Lee of Solana

Tom Lee (Thomas Lee) has become the recognized new bull for Ethereum, buying 1.5 million ETH in 50 days, transforming Ethereum from a doomsday vehicle to "the next decade will still depend on him." Meanwhile, Solana, which last year was vocally claiming to "take down Ethereum," has lost its previous momentum. In this wave of cryptocurrencies and stocks, the community has realized, "Solana also needs its own Tom Lee."

The SOL/ETH exchange rate continues to decline.

So who is Tom Lee of Solana?

Rhythm BlockBeats has revealed 6 candidates from the community, each of whom is exceptionally skilled, and even the early SOL promoter Raoul Pal did not make the list.

Our final best candidate is Anthony Scaramucci.

This staunch Solana Maxi on Wall Street has absolute influence in both crypto and Wall Street, and more importantly, he has an unabashed enthusiasm for Solana.

Let's take a look at why Anthony Scaramucci stands out from a list that includes Kyle Samani (founder of Multicoin) and Chamath Palihapitiya (top investor in Silicon Valley).

Anthony Scaramucci

Anthony Scaramucci can be considered one of the most steadfast Solana Maxis on Wall Street. He was a Goldman Sachs investment banker before founding the hedge fund SkyBridge Capital in 2005, and he became known for his brief tenure as White House Communications Director (1 mooch, 11 days). He brings together Wall Street leaders by hosting the annual SALT conference, accumulating a deep network in the financial circle. As an experienced fund manager, Scaramucci is bold in embracing emerging assets, often investing against the market trends during downturns, making him one of the visionary investment representatives on Wall Street. In recent years, he has actively engaged in the crypto space, reallocating part of SkyBridge's capital towards Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and more, and personally advocating for the crypto industry, which has increased his visibility in the crypto community. In addition to his network, he also has his own YouTube channel with 170,000 subscribers, which gives him considerable influence as a communication platform.

Compared to other "candidates", Scaramucci appears more resolute in his stance on Solana. At the Solana Breakpoint conference in September 2024, he stated: "I hope the tokenization of financial assets happens on Solana, because I hold a large amount of Solana, and I believe this will ultimately come to pass." He revealed on the spot that he is a holder of Solana and predicted that Solana would lead the wave of tokenization in global financial markets. Previously, in May 2024, Scaramucci posted on Twitter to forecast that "we will see a Solana ETF." He firmly believes that after Bitcoin and Ethereum, Solana is expected to be among the next batch of crypto assets to receive approval for an ETF in the United States, and this "prediction" came true on July 2nd of this year.

At the DigiAssets Summit in June 2025, he reiterated the slogan "SOL Will Flip ETH". He emphasized that this is not a denial of Ethereum, but rather that he "understands the story of Solana better." While a number of cryptocurrency and traditional institutions began to make significant moves towards Ethereum, he still insisted that Solana is the Ethereum killer, demonstrating his strong confidence in Solana's prospects.

Scaramucci has repeatedly emphasized his Solana holdings in public. As of early 2025, SkyBridge holds up to nine figures worth of Bitcoin and Solana on its balance sheet and has set up a crypto portfolio fund of about $300 million for clients. He mentioned that the fund also includes allocations to Avalanche, Polkadot, and others. Although the report does not specify the holdings of each token, he stated that Solana is an extremely important component.

As the saying goes, "the butt decides the brain," he also wrote a book about his holdings called "Solana Rising," which is scheduled to be released in the second half of this year. The target audience is those newcomers in traditional finance who are learning to allocate cryptocurrency assets. The content includes discussions from significant investors and players betting on Solana, as well as an introduction to Solana and the role it should play in a cryptocurrency portfolio.

Scaramucci's overall view on Solana can be summarized as "highly bullish, long-term positioning." He is outgoing and talkative, adept at packaging grand narratives, and tends to express optimistic expectations in straightforward and exaggerated language. His style is sometimes seen as Degen or market hype, but it is precisely this that allows him to successfully attract attention and gather focus.

Scaramucci, with a background in Wall Street and a passion for cryptocurrency, is able to articulate the selling points of Solana in a language that mainstream investors can understand. He discusses how tokenization lowers financial costs, how Solana addresses trust overhead, and transforms technological advantages into investment logic. Overall, he is one of the few who holds a voice in both the traditional finance and crypto circles. With this cross-border influence and his unabashed enthusiasm for Solana, Scaramucci is increasingly seen as one of the ambassadors for the Solana ecosystem.

Michael Edward Novogratz

Michael Edward Novogratz is a former Goldman Sachs macro trader, a partner at Fortress Investment Group, and the founder and CEO of Galaxy Digital. He is regarded as one of Wall Street's earliest and most prominent crypto advocates. His career spans traditional hedge funds and digital asset investments, known for his willingness to bet on emerging markets and high-volatility assets.

Since 2013, Novogratz has been actively investing in core assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, playing a "bridge" role between cryptocurrency and institutional funds across multiple cycles. This includes the recent Ethereum DAT frenzy of listed companies, where he has also played a crucial role as an over-the-counter platform. As a macro investor, Novogratz's perspective on Solana is somewhat similar to that of Raoul Pal, focusing on the major trends of "macro liquidity" and "institutional adoption." He believes that the next wave of growth for crypto assets lies in the on-chain and tokenization of real-world assets (RWA), and that Solana's technical architecture (high TPS, low latency, stable fees) enables it to meet the stringent demands of institutions in terms of speed and cost.

Novogratz has deep connections on Wall Street and significant media exposure, and Galaxy Digital is one of the few publicly listed crypto financial companies in both the U.S. and Canada, which gives his voice a strong signaling effect. He often promotes crypto concepts in straightforward language on traditional media such as CNBC and Bloomberg. His style combines the steadiness of old-school Wall Street with the aggressiveness of crypto pioneers, and his public statements often merge personal investment views with Galaxy's market data, making them both persuasive and strategically guiding. Regarding the potential for promoting Solana, Novogratz's advantage lies in his ability to market Solana to traditional finance using "institutional language," which complements Scaramucci's capital network and Samani's crypto-native evangelism.

Before the Luna crash, Novo had a Luna tattoo on one arm, and on the other arm, he has a BTC tattoo.

However, whether Novo will seriously support Solana depends on whether the stakes involved are worth his involvement. Novo has also earned considerable profits on Solana through various means. In September 2023, FTX Estate commissioned Galaxy Digital to handle the sale, hedging, and staking of FTX's cryptocurrency assets valued at up to $3.4 billion at the time of its bankruptcy application, a significant portion of which consisted of SOL (FTX acquired approximately 60 million SOL tokens between August 2020 and May 2021). The sale of SOL was divided into multiple auctions. In March 2024, the first auction sold locked Solana tokens at prices ranging from $64 each for 25 to 30 million tokens, at a discount of 60% to the market price. Galaxy Trading set up a special purpose fund to acquire these tokens and raised about $620 million. The second auction saw 1.8 million SOL tokens sold, with prices ranging from $95 to $110, representing a price drop of 15% to 26%. Both auctions involved Galaxy, acting both as a "referee" and a "player," which sparked discussions within the community.

Investors will need to pay a 1% management fee for Galaxy, and the investment will yield returns through staking, generating millions of dollars in profit from just one transaction. But that’s not all, as the company’s financial report released on March 31, 2024, shows that Galaxy Digital invested $104.1 million in its Crypto Vol fund, which includes the acquisition of Solana from FTX assets. This means that Galaxy itself may have invested at least tens of millions of dollars in this transaction, and if valued at $64, this transaction has already multiplied its investment by more than three times to date. According to Arkm’s data, Galaxy Digital currently holds $3.3 million in SOL in its main wallet, and based on analysis, it holds a total of 151,196 SOL on-chain, valued at $25 million. Additionally, with tens of millions of dollars in SOL "unaccounted for" that have been transferred to centralized exchanges, along with other wallet addresses, the final actual holdings could far exceed this figure.

In addition, Galaxy is also one of the first institutions to participate in the SOL ETF. As early as April, Galaxy collaborated with CIGlobalAsset to launch the CI Galaxy Solana ETF (SOLX), which was listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. In June, they partnered with Invesco to submit an application to the SEC for an ETF to be listed in the U.S., and on the 14th of this month, they received a response from the SEC, which acknowledged the submission of Invesco Galaxy's spot Solana ETF application.

Although Galaxy Digital's main source of revenue still comes from OTC trading of ETH and BTC, Novo is currently discussing Ethereum and BTC more in public. However, Galaxy's holdings in SOL are quite impressive, along with their recent frequent activities. With both motivation and influence, if Novo is willing to convey "faith" in a "crazy call" style like Tom Lee, their influence on Wall Street should be comparable to that of anyone on the list.

Kyle Samani

Mike Dudas, co-founder of The Block, cast his vote for Kyle Samani during the discussion. Kyle Samani is the co-founder and managing partner of the new generation crypto venture capital firm Multicoin Capital. As an entrepreneur born in the 1980s (formerly an engineer), Samani has quickly emerged in the crypto investment space due to his deep insights into blockchain technology trends.

If we talk about the closeness to Solana, Samani is definitely one of the biggest bulls among several, with his Multicoin Capital starting to invest from the seed round of Solana in 2018 and adding another 20 million dollars in the Series A round in 2019. At the peak in 2021, Kyle Samani disclosed on X that they held SOL worth "10-digit dollars" (at least 1 billion dollars) across multiple funds. This could account for 8-12% of Solana's circulating supply. They were the first to bet on Solana when others were still doubting its feasibility, winning ultra-high returns for the fund. The successful investment in Solana made Samani famous overnight, and Multicoin became one of the top crypto funds. Although he does not come from a traditional Wall Street background, Samani has established influence in the emerging financial circle through his investment achievements.

Solana founder Toly discusses the development of Solana with Samani, source: Lightspeed

As an early investor in Solana, Samani has almost become one of the spokespersons for the Solana project. Multicoin has invested not only in Solana but also in a series of Solana ecosystem projects, including Jito, Drift, solscan, Dialect, Helium, and others. In an interview with Coinage in June 2025, he said, "In the past, everyone thought Ethereum could not be shaken, but Solana is on an inevitable path to disrupt Ethereum." He candidly stated that the Ethereum development team "missed the opportunity and failed to solve scalability issues, leading to skyrocketing fees and a terrible user experience." Users were forced to invest in him, and he believes Solana has seized this opportunity to become the biggest beneficiary.

At several summits in recent years, Samani has depicted the grand prospects of Solana, believing that Solana can support internet-level capital markets (ICM), facilitating on-chain transactions of real-world assets like stocks and bonds. He stated that "if global assets gradually move on-chain, the crypto market cap could rise from $3 trillion to $50 trillion in the next decade," and that Solana has the potential to play a key role in this leap. Therefore, he is not afraid of short-term volatility and has consistently over-allocated to SOL, which also makes Multicoin's investment style appear more "Degen" in nature.

Samani is rational and passionate. He speaks well with data and facts, but he is unabashedly optimistic about promising projects, which is somewhat similar to Tom Lee. However, Samani is mainly active in the crypto investment circle and developer community. He shares his views through blogs, podcasts, and industry summits. Due to the lack of a Wall Street background, traditional media exposure, and cross-industry celebrity effect, Samani's influence in the public or traditional finance circle is limited. Nevertheless, his enthusiasm and investment in Solana have made him one of the most important advocates and thought leaders in the Solana ecosystem.

Chamath Palihapitiya

Jon Charbonneau, co-founder of DBR Crypto, brought up the controversial figure Chamath Palihapitiya, stating "once you see it you cant unsee it." He believes that if Palihapitiya endorses it, the price of SOL could easily break through 1000 dollars.

Chamath Palihapitiya is a well-known venture capitalist and entrepreneur in Silicon Valley. He accumulated wealth as an executive at Facebook in his early years, then founded Social Capital investment firm, becoming a prominent figure in the new generation of finance through a series of unique investments (such as early investments in Bitcoin and promoting the listing of multiple SPACs). He is known as the "King of SPACs" and has frequently made headlines in financial media. In Wall Street and the tech industry, Chamath is known for his independent thinking and willingness to challenge tradition, often sharing insights on market trends in his popular podcast "All-In," influencing many listeners. His financial network spans Silicon Valley and Wall Street, and his novel and radical investment style has garnered him a large following.

However, Palihapitiya is not actually well-received by the community, and one of the reasons that make him controversial on this topic is that in 2021, during the 50th episode of All-In, he jokingly discussed buying Solana tokens at a discount and considering cashing out with then co-host David Sacks. This conversation was clipped and spread, leading some to accuse them of profiting by crashing the market as venture capitalists. In response, Chamath clarified this year that he did not sell Solana at a high price, stating that the accusation that he "dumped Solana on retail investors" is nonsense, and "if that were true, those who bought it would be making money now" (referring to the subsequent price surge of Solana).

All IN Podcast Episode 50 Discussing Investment Philosophy with David Sacks

The argument that Palihapitiya is "playing the game to cut the leeks" is not unfounded. Since 2020, Palihapitiya has managed dozens of SPACs, including Virgin Galactic, Opendoor Technologies, Clover Health, and SoFi Technologies, but most investors have found it difficult to make money in the projects he has managed. After calculations, it is found that if someone invested $100 in all of his SPAC projects, the loss has exceeded 70% so far. After receiving a large number of NO votes on X, he also famously commented in his comment section, "No crying in the casino!!" Some community members speculate that with the trend of "coin-stock companies," Palihapitiya's action should aim to leverage his Wall Street connections to list "a certain cryptocurrency" through a shell company, but the facts lack verification.

On August 19, 2025, Chamath Palihapitiya finally revealed that he initiated the establishment of a SPAC company named "AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM" with plans to raise $250 million. The investment targets not only include the DeFi sector of blockchain but also primarily encompass energy production, AI, and defense. The prospectus mentions that DeFi will revolutionize various financial products, including international payments, smart contracts, and supply chain transparency, so its cryptocurrency investment preferences may mainly emerge in these types related to the physical world.

Palihapitiya's investment philosophy has always been long-term and fundamentally driven. He stated in 2021 that he held a significant portion of his net worth in Bitcoin, believing in its macro hedging properties. Similarly, his views on the public blockchain track emphasize network effects and practicality. For Solana to gain full endorsement from Chamath, it needs to prove that it can overcome Ethereum's moat in terms of decentralization and security; on this point, he may still be observing and weighing his options.

Palihapitiya has over a million followers on social media and podcast listeners, making his topics highly discussed thanks to "All-In." He excels at breaking down complex financial issues into simple language, with a humorous yet sharp style that attracts a large number of young investor fans. His charisma lies in the coexistence of boldness and rationality; he can boldly predict (such as his early assertion that Bitcoin would reach $200k) and also speak frankly when the situation is unfavorable (such as saying "crypto is dead in America").

This style makes his words both compelling and controversial. He mainly expresses his views through podcasts and the X platform, rarely endorsing specific projects, and more often commenting from an industry-wide perspective. Therefore, although Palihapitiya's prominence in the financial sector is unquestionable, when it comes to the dimension of being a "Solana spokesperson", both his channel and personal account discuss cryptocurrency less and less, with more focus on AI-related topics. Thus, it is likely that not only Solana, but he is unlikely to become a flagbearer for any individual cryptocurrency token other than BTC. Compared to being a front-stage evangelist, he prefers to be a behind-the-scenes capital promoter.

Kevin O'Leary

Kevin O'Leary is a Canadian businessman and investment celebrity, widely known for his role as a judge on the entrepreneurial reality show "Shark Tank." He founded an educational software company in his early years and successfully sold it, subsequently building a broad influence through television programs, earning the nickname "Mr. Wonderful." As a television personality, O'Leary's communicative influence is primarily exerted through mainstream financial media (such as CNBC), personal social platforms, and participation in industry conferences. He is straightforward and pragmatic, willing to candidly discuss risks and opportunities, and he has admitted to experiencing setbacks and losses in his investments, but each failure has made him more cautious. This style of "candor + experienced rationality" gives him appeal among retail investors. In the crypto space, O'Leary plays the role of a "rational bull;" he supports crypto innovation but does not blindly chase highs, focusing more on long-term value and compliance building. This steady image lends a certain credibility to his words in the eyes of traditional finance professionals.

O'Leary was initially skeptical about cryptocurrencies, but in recent years he has become an advocate for crypto investments, allocating about 11% of his personal portfolio to digital assets. In a July 2024 interview with CoinDesk, he mentioned that he holds various cryptocurrencies for diversification, candidly stating that "Solana looks to be having good momentum right now." O'Leary's overall view on Solana is cautiously optimistic, with an emphasis on compliance. He has repeatedly stressed that the crypto market needs clear regulations to attract mainstream capital. In his view, Bitcoin and Ethereum have already "settled down" as most institutions have accepted them, and if new chains like Solana can prove their value within a regulatory framework, they will have the opportunity to share in the growth dividends of digital assets.

This is not the first time he has been bullish on Solana; his connection to Solana dates back to his collaboration with SBF. He became a paid spokesperson for FTX in 2021, earning about $15 million from this relationship, which included equity, tokens in the FTX wallet, and tax reimbursements, among others. Additionally, he personally invested approximately a million dollars in FTX equity. It can be said that during that time, he had a wonderful "honeymoon period" with the FTX ecosystem and Solana.

Just a month before the FTX collapse in 2022, the Reddit r/CryptoCurrency community held a public meeting inviting O'Leary. In his communication with community members, he mentioned that he believes Solana's processing speed far exceeds that of Ethereum, which would provide many possibilities for "financial institutions' adoption." After meeting the Solana team, he considered them one of the smartest groups he had encountered in his years in the software industry. He views cryptocurrency as "productivity software," similar to investing in Microsoft or Google, and believes that the success of each project depends on the strength of the technical team behind it.

Looking back, after the collapse of FTX, when O'Leary attended the hearing and was accused of "misleading investors," he did not belittle SBF to extricate himself (even though he personally lost millions of dollars). He stated that more data was needed to prove this and mentioned that the "shareholding dispute" between SBF and CZ ultimately led to his liquidity crisis. At the end of that hearing, he firmly believed in the development of the cryptocurrency sector, stating, "The collapse of FTX will not stop the pursuit of the next unicorn in the venture capital field. If there is a glimmer of hope in this chaos, it is that the crypto industry will finally receive the long-awaited regulation."

After that, although the price of Solana experienced a sharp drop, the team behind it managed to bring Solana back into the spotlight, suggesting that O'Leary's investment insight was quite accurate. However, his investment logic focuses on diversifying risk by holding multiple excellent projects at the same time to avoid betting on a single token. He openly admits that in his investment career, he "relies on winners to make up for losers," so in the crypto space, he casts a wide net to increase his chances of success. His support for Solana is more presented as part of his investment portfolio, rather than specially acting as a promoter for Solana.

But "the butt decides the head"; with the shift in policy direction and the development of Solana, will O'Leary double down on Solana in his investment portfolio, thus connecting Solana with the "cognitive storm" of traditional finance?

Joe McCann

Former JPMorgan trader Vivek Raman believes the candidate should be Joe McCann, and in fact, many people think so.

Joe McCann is the founder, CEO, and Chief Investment Officer of the crypto hedge fund Asymmetric, which has received support from well-known institutions such as Andreessen Horowitz, Chris Dixon, and Circle, as well as founders of Solana and Multicoin. McCann has over 24 years of experience on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley, having served as a Senior Director in Microsoft’s Cloud and AI division (focusing on mergers and acquisitions and startups), handled crypto system trading at Passport Capital, and founded NodeSource (a Node.js company). He has acted as an advisor to several blockchain companies (such as Zebec within the Solana ecosystem), is active in global blockchain summits, and frequently promotes emerging technologies to mainstream audiences.

McCann can be considered one of the most steadfast bullish advocates for Solana among several candidates. He has openly stated that he is a "die-hard fan" of Solana, buying as much SOL as possible in the $8–11 range during the market downturn from 2021 to 2022. Similar to Kyle Samani, he believes that Ethereum is currently in an "identity crisis," with its supercomputer positioning being replaced by Solana, which is why he holds "0 ETH" in his fund. McCann emphasizes Solana's technological and cultural advantages, believing that Solana's architecture is high throughput and low-cost, and its early integration into mainstream culture, along with compliance trends, combine to keep him highly optimistic about Solana.

Joe McCann discusses traditional IPO issues and the value discovery of blockchain with Dragonfly co-founder Haseeb during the Pumpfun ICO.

To deeply engage with Solana, McCann also promoted a series of practical projects. In mid-2025, he proposed the establishment of a Solana digital asset treasury company named Accelerate, planning to raise $1.5 billion through a SPAC, and personally served as co-founder and CEO. However, the SPAC deal was terminated in August 2025. Previously, Asymmetric publicly faced significant performance losses due to heavy investments in Solana, with the fund losing nearly 80% in the first half of 2025. McCann offered LPs the option to exit or roll over their capital into specific illiquid investments (i.e., the Solana treasury).

Nevertheless, he has increased his layout in the Solana ecosystem, such as early investments in BONK with substantial returns, and investments in Syndica, Light Protocol, Ranger, and other Solana infrastructure. Overall, McCann is one of the few figures who can exert influence in both the traditional financial circle and the crypto sphere. He has a Wall Street background and a professional analytical perspective, and he vigorously promotes Solana with a high-profile attitude, making him one of the important ambassadors of the Solana ecosystem.

Who is most likely to become the representative promoter of Solana?

In summary, from the actual situation of Solana, Tom Lee believes that Anthony Scaramucci is the most likely candidate. He holds a significant amount of "SOL Bag" and consistently maintains a bullish stance on Solana, while also possessing Wall Street resources and media exposure. Although Joe McCann's enthusiasm and investment in Solana are equally strong, his recognition on Wall Street and among the general public is not as high as Scaramucci's. Other candidates are somewhat lacking in holdings, popularity, or public image. Novogratz holds a substantial amount of Solana assets, and his company Galaxy Digital is about to launch a Solana ETF, but the factors behind the platform may be more neutral and currently focus more on Bitcoin and Ethereum. Kyle Samani is very optimistic but lacks a traditional financial background, primarily identifying as an emerging investor. Palihapitiya and O'Leary, while influential, have not taken consistent actions to lead Solana.

But looking to the future, who will ultimately raise the "flag of Solana" high? It is likely that it will not be just one person. Just as Tom Lee has a group of Ethereum believers behind him singing praises to promote the entire Ethereum ecosystem, Solana also needs multiple dimensions of advocates, and the community strength behind Solana, which has risen from the lows, may be even stronger than imagined.