Solana and Base Clash Over New ‘Bidirectional’ Bridge

Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko struck at the core of Coinbase’s Base expansion strategy this weekend, dismissing the Ethereum layer-2 network’s new bridge as an “alignment bullshit.”

In a sharp rebuke of Base lead Jesse Pollak, Yakovenko argued that cross-chain bridges are rarely neutral infrastructure. He said they act as vectors for value capture, deciding where fees settle and which ecosystem benefits.

Solana Rejects Base’s ‘Alignment’ Message

Yakovenko contended that Base applications must migrate their computation to Solana so that transaction fees and economic activity accrue to Solana validators.

“Migrate base apps to Solana so they execute on Solana, and the transactions are linearized by Solana staked block producers. That would be good for Solana developers. Otherwise, it’s alignment bullshit,” he said.

The dispute ignited after Pollak announced the integration last week, framing it as a “bidirectional” tool to unlock shared liquidity.

“We built this as a two-way bridge. The whole point is to unlock movement both ways because we are hearing from Solana teams that they want access to Base, and from Base teams that they want access to Solana. We want to make that possible,” Pollak stressed.

However, Yakovenko rejected this premise, warning that “alignment” is a marketing term often used to obscure capital flight.

Considering this, he demanded that Base market the bridge honestly as a competitive tactic rather than a cooperative venture.

“Ethereum L2s have to do the bs alignment dance because any activity on the L2 takes away from the ethereum L1 but you can’t be honest about it. So it reeks of bullshit,” Yakovenko said.

Solana Foundation executives Vibhu Norby and Akshay BD had previously criticized the bridge, saying Base bypassed Solana’s technical and marketing teams entirely.

They also alleged that the exchange-backed network launched the product without a single Solana launch partner.

At the same time, they cited private communications where Base leadership allegedly discussed “flipping” Solana as proof of hostile intent.

“We’d be happy to engage you in a genuine commercial conversation… just not a performative one with platitudes that don’t mean much,” BD stated.

However, Pollak defended the initiative, claiming his team spent nine months building the connection to satisfy developer demand on both sides.

He attributed the friction to a communication breakdown and insisted that the bridge allows assets to flow freely wherever opportunities exist.

“If you’re a Solana builder, we welcome you with open arms — and have no expectation or desire that you move entirely to Base! We want to give your assets access to the demand that is building on Base and to make that process as simple as humanly possible,” Pollak explained.

However, market observers see a darker pattern.

NFT historian Leonidas noted that Base employed similar “alignment propaganda” on Ethereum in 2023, extracting developer mindshare before pivoting to its own native economy.

“Coinbase/Base’s new campaign to appeal to the Solana ecosystem feels similarly disingenuous If the Solana ecosystem buys into the same “alignment propaganda” that the Ethereum L1 ecosystem did then it deserves the same fate,” Leonidas said.

Solana and Base have become two of the fastest-growing blockchain networks, competing directly for assets, liquidity, and developer activity.

Together, they hold nearly $20 billion in locked value. Solana accounts for about $12 billion, while Base holds roughly $6 billion, according to DeFiLlama data.