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

Tom Lee has become the undisputed new investor in Ethereum, buying 1.5 million ETH in 50 days, transforming Ethereum from a doomsday chariot to a "decisive investor for the next decade." Meanwhile, Solana, which boasted last year about its "destroy Ethereum" strategy, has lost its former fervor. Amidst this surge in cryptocurrency stocks, the community has realized that "Solana needs its own Tom Lee."

The SOL/ETH exchange rate continues to fall

So who is Solana’s Tom Lee?

BlockBeats has released 6 candidates from the community. All of them have unique skills. Even Raoul Pal, an early SOL fan, was not on the list.

Ultimately our top pick was Anthony Scaramucci.

This most determined Solana Maxi on Wall Street has absolute say in both crypto and Wall Street. More importantly, he has an undisguised enthusiasm for Solana.

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

Anthony Scaramucci

Anthony Scaramucci is arguably one of Wall Street's most resolute Solana Maxis. A former Goldman Sachs investment banker, he founded the hedge fund SkyBridge Capital in 2005 and is best known for his brief tenure as White House Communications Director for just 11 days. He has cultivated deep connections within the financial community by hosting the annual SALT Summit, which brings together Wall Street leaders. As a veteran fund manager, Scaramucci is known for his bold embrace of emerging assets, repeatedly investing against the trend during market downturns, making him one of Wall Street's most visionary investment figures. In recent years, he has actively invested in the crypto space, shifting some of SkyBridge's capital to Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana, and personally championing the crypto industry, raising his profile within the community. Beyond his connections, he also maintains a YouTube channel with 170,000 subscribers, making him a considerable influencer in terms of communication.

Compared to other "candidates," Scaramucci appears more resolute in his support for Solana. At the Solana Breakpoint conference in September 2024, he bluntly stated, "I hope the tokenization of financial assets happens on Solana, because I hold a significant amount of Solana, and I believe it will eventually happen." He revealed his Solana holdings and predicted that Solana would lead the tokenization wave in the global financial market. Earlier in May 2024, Scaramucci tweeted, "We're going to have a Solana ETF." He firmly believed that Solana would be the next crypto asset to receive US ETF approval, following Bitcoin and Ethereum. 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," emphasizing that this wasn't a rejection of Ethereum, but rather a statement that he "better understood the Solana story." Even as a number of cryptocurrency companies and traditional institutions began aggressively investing in Ethereum, he maintained his belief that Solana was an Ethereum killer, demonstrating his strong confidence in Solana's prospects.

Scaramucci has repeatedly highlighted his Solana holdings in public. As of early 2025, SkyBridge held nine figures worth of Bitcoin and Solana on its balance sheet, and has established a roughly $300 million crypto fund for clients. He stated that the fund also includes Avalanche and Polkadot. While the report doesn't specify individual token holdings, he stated that Solana is a significant component.

As the saying goes, "the butt determines the head." He also wrote a book about his holdings, " Solana Rising ", which is scheduled to be released in the second half of this year. Its target audience is those who are new to traditional finance and are learning to allocate crypto assets. The content includes discussions about investors and players who have made larger bets on Solana, as well as an introduction to Solana and the role it should play in a cryptocurrency portfolio.

Scaramucci's overall outlook on Solana can be summarized as "highly bullish, long-term." He is an extrovert and talkative person with a knack for crafting grand narratives, often using blunt, exaggerated language to express his optimistic outlook. His style is sometimes viewed as degenerate or market hype, but it's precisely this that successfully captures attention and draws significant attention.

Scaramucci, with his combined Wall Street background and crypto passion, is able to articulate Solana's selling points in a language accessible to mainstream investors. He discusses how tokenization reduces financial costs and how Solana addresses trust overhead, translating technological advantages into investment rationale. Ultimately, he is one of the few individuals who holds a voice in both traditional finance and crypto. With this cross-disciplinary influence and unabashed enthusiasm for Solana, Scaramucci is increasingly regarded as one of the faces of the Solana ecosystem.

Michael Edward Novogratz

Michael Edward Novogratz, a former Goldman Sachs macro trader, partner at Fortress Investment Group, and founder and CEO of Galaxy Digital, is considered one of Wall Street's earliest and most prominent crypto investors. His career spans traditional hedge funds and digital asset investing, and he is known for his bold bets on emerging markets and highly volatile assets.

Since 2013, Novogratz has actively invested in core assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum, serving as a bridge between crypto and institutional capital throughout multiple cycles, including the current surge in Ethereum DATs among publicly listed companies, where he also served as a crucial over-the-counter (OTC) platform. As a macro investor, Novogratz's approach to Solana is somewhat similar to Raoul Pal's, focusing on the megatrends of "macro liquidity" and "institutional adoption." He believes that the next wave of growth in crypto assets lies in the on-chain and tokenization of real-world assets (RWAs), and that Solana's technical architecture (high TPS, low latency, and stable fees) enables it to meet the stringent speed and cost requirements of institutions.

Novogratz's extensive Wall Street connections and media exposure, coupled with Galaxy Digital being one of the few publicly listed crypto-finance companies in both the US and Canada, give his voice a strong signaling effect. He frequently promotes crypto concepts in concise and straightforward language on traditional media outlets like CNBC and Bloomberg. His style combines the steadiness of old-school Wall Street with the activism of a crypto pioneer. His public statements often combine personal investment perspectives with Galaxy's market data, creating a persuasive and strategically guiding message. Regarding the potential promotion of Solana, Novogratz's advantage lies in his ability to market Solana to traditional finance using institutional language, a characteristic that complements Scaramucci's capital network and Samani's crypto-native evangelism.

Novo's Luna tattoo before the Luna crash, and BTC tattoo on the other arm

Whether Novo will truly support Solana depends on whether the stakes are worth it. Novo has also profited significantly from Solana through various means. In September 2023, FTX Estate commissioned Galaxy Digital to handle the sale, hedging, and staking of $3.4 billion in cryptocurrency assets at the time of FTX's bankruptcy filing, a significant portion of which was Sol (SOL). (FTX acquired approximately 60 million SOL tokens between August 2020 and May 2021). The SOL sale was divided into multiple auctions. The first auction, in March 2024, sold 25 to 30 million locked Solana tokens at $64 each, a 60% discount to the market price. Galaxy Trading established a special purpose fund to acquire these tokens for the transaction, raising approximately $620 million. The second auction sold 1.8 million Sol at prices ranging from $95 to $110 per token, a price reduction of 15% to 26%. Galaxy participated in both auctions, acting as both a "referee" and a "player," which sparked discussion in the community.

Investors will pay Galaxy a 1% management fee, and their investments will generate returns through staking. This single transaction alone has generated millions of dollars in returns. However, this is not a significant investment. The company's financial report released on March 31, 2024, shows that Galaxy Digital invested $104.1 million in its Crypto Vol Fund, including the acquisition of Solana from FTX Asset. This means Galaxy itself likely invested at least tens of millions of dollars in this transaction. If priced at $64, the transaction has more than tripled its investment to date. According to Arkm data, Galaxy Digital's main wallet currently holds $3.3 million in SOL. Analysis indicates that Galaxy Digital holds a total of 151,196 SOL on-chain, with a total value of $25 million. Adding the tens of millions of dollars in SOL transferred to centralized exchanges, which are "missing," and other holdings, the actual amount held is likely far greater than this figure.

In addition, Galaxy was also one of the first institutions to participate in SOL's ETF. As early as April, Galaxy cooperated with CIGlobalAsset to launch the CI Galaxy Solana ETF (SOLX) on the Toronto Stock Exchange. In June, it cooperated with Invesco to submit an application to the SEC for the listing of the ETF in the United States. On the 14th of this month, it received a response from the SEC, which acknowledged that it had submitted the Invesco Galaxy spot Solana ETF application.

While Galaxy Digital's primary revenue stream still comes from over-the-counter (OTC) trading of ETH and BTC, and Novo's public discussions are primarily focused on Ethereum and BTC, Galaxy's SOL holdings are impressive, coupled with its recent activity. Given both motivation and influence, if Novo were willing to emulate Tom Lee's frantic calls for action, his influence on Wall Street could rival that of anyone on this list.

Kyle Samani

Mike Dudas, co-founder of The Block, voted for Kyle Samani, co-founder and managing partner of Multicoin Capital, a rising star in the crypto venture capital firm. A post-80s entrepreneur and former engineer, Samani has quickly risen to prominence in the crypto investment community with his deep insight into blockchain technology trends.

Judging solely by his close involvement with Solana, Samani is undoubtedly the biggest long-term investor. His firm, Multicoin Capital, began investing in Solana's seed round in 2018 and added $20 million in a Series A round in 2019. At its peak in 2021, Kyle Samani revealed on X that they held "ten-digit dollars" (or at least $1 billion) worth of Solana across multiple funds. This likely represents 8-12% of Solana's circulating supply. His early bet on Solana, when others were still skeptical of its viability, earned the fund exceptional returns. Solana's successful investment catapulted Samani to fame and established Multicoin as one of the leading crypto funds. While not a traditional Wall Street background, Samani's investment track record has established him in the emerging financial world.

Solana founder Toly and Samani discuss the development of Solana. Source: Lightspeed

As an early investor in Solana, Samani has become virtually one of the project's spokespersons. Multicoin has invested not only in Solana but also in a range of projects within the Solana ecosystem, including Jito, Drift, solscan, Dialect, and Helium. In a June 2025 interview with Coinage , he stated, "People used to think Ethereum was untouchable, but Solana is on an inevitable path to disrupting Ethereum." He bluntly stated that the Ethereum development team "missed a golden opportunity and failed to address scaling, resulting in skyrocketing transaction fees and a poor user experience." Users were forced to invest, and he believes Solana seized this opportunity and is the biggest beneficiary.

At numerous summits in recent years, Samani has outlined Solana's grand prospects. He believes Solana can support an internet-scale capital market (ICM), supporting the on-chain trading of real-world assets like stocks and bills. He also stated, "If global assets gradually migrate to blockchains, the crypto market capitalization could surge from $3 trillion to $50 trillion over the next decade," and that Solana has the potential to play a key role in this surge. Consequently, he remains unfazed by short-term fluctuations and maintains an overweight position in Solana. This also gives Multicoin's investment style a more decentralised outlook.

Samani is both rational and passionate, adept at using data and facts to inform his arguments, yet unabashedly optimistic about promising projects, a characteristic similar to Tom Lee. However, Samani primarily focuses on the crypto investment and developer communities, sharing his perspectives through blogs, podcasts, and industry conferences. Lacking a Wall Street background, traditional media exposure, or cross-disciplinary celebrity, Samani's influence within the general public or traditional financial circles is limited. However, his passion and commitment to Solana have made him one of the ecosystem's most important advocates and thought leaders.

Chamath Palihapitiya

Jon Charbonneau, co-founder of DBR Crypto, brought up a controversial figure, Chamath Palihapitiya, and said, "once you see it you can't unsee it." He believes that if Palihapitiya takes the stand, the price of SOL can easily exceed $1,000.

Chamath Palihapitiya is a renowned Silicon Valley venture capitalist and entrepreneur. He built his fortune as a senior executive at Facebook and later founded the investment firm Social Capital. Through a series of innovative investments, including an early investment in Bitcoin and the IPOs of several SPACs, he has become a prominent figure in the emerging financial world. Dubbed the "SPAC King," he frequently made headlines in financial media. On Wall Street and in the tech world, Chamath is known for his independent thinking and willingness to challenge convention. He frequently shares his insights on market trends on his popular podcast, "All-In," which has a wide audience. His financial connections span Silicon Valley and Wall Street, and his innovative and aggressive investment style have earned him a large following.

However, Palihapitiya is not actually popular in the community. One of the reasons for his controversial role in this topic is that in 2021, during the 50th episode of All-In, a clip of him and then-co-host David Sacks half-jokingly discussing buying Solana tokens at a discount and considering cashing out was circulated, leading some to accuse them of being venture capitalists dumping the market for profit. In response, Chamath clarified this year that he did not sell Solana at a high price, saying that the accusation that he "dumped Solana on retail investors" was nonsense. "If that were the case, those who bought it would be rich now" (referring to the subsequent surge in Solana's price).

All IN Podcast Episode 50: Discussing My Investment Philosophy with David Sacks

Palihapitiya's claim of "setting up a scam to profiteer" isn't groundless. Since 2020, he has managed dozens of SPACs, including Virgin Galactic, Opendoor Technologies, Clover Health, and SoFi Technologies. However, most investors have struggled to profit from these projects. Calculations show that a $100 investment in all of his SPACs would have resulted in losses exceeding 70% to date . The overwhelming number of "no" votes on X led him to post the catchphrase "No crying in the casino!" in his comment section. Some community members speculated that with the surge in "crypto-token companies," Palihapitiya was attempting to leverage his Wall Street connections to list a publicly traded company through a backdoor listing. However, this is unclear.

On August 19, 2025, President Chamath Palihapitiya finally revealed his plan to raise $250 million through a SPAC called "AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM." The investment targets extend beyond blockchain's DeFi sector, encompassing energy production, AI, and defense. The prospectus mentions DeFi as revolutionizing various financial products, including international payments, smart contracts, and supply chain transparency. Therefore, the company's cryptocurrency investments may be primarily focused on these entities.

Palihapitiya's investment philosophy has always been long-term and fundamentals-oriented. In 2021, he stated that he holds a significant portion of his net worth in Bitcoin, citing its optimism about its macro-hedging properties. Similarly, his perspective on the public blockchain sector prioritizes network effects and practicality. For Solana to fully secure Chamath's support, it will need to demonstrate that it can overcome Ethereum's defenses of decentralization and security. He may be considering this point.

Palihapitiya boasts over a million followers on social media and on his podcast, "All-In," which has kept him in the spotlight. His ability to explain complex financial issues in layman's terms, while maintaining a humorous yet sharp tone, has garnered a large following among young investors. His appeal lies in his balance of outspokenness and rationality, allowing him to both boldly predict (such as his early assertion that Bitcoin would reach $200,000) and bluntly speak out when times are tough (e.g., "Crypto is dead in America").

This style makes his words both evocative and controversial. He primarily expresses his opinions through podcasts and on X platforms, rarely endorsing specific projects, but rather offering high-level industry commentary. Therefore, while Palihapitiya's reputation in financial circles is unquestionable, his role as a "Solana spokesperson" has seen him discuss the cryptocurrency industry less and less, focusing more on AI-related topics, both on his channels and his personal accounts. This suggests that he's unlikely to become a champion for any individual cryptocurrency besides BTC, perhaps not just Solana. Rather than being a front-row evangelist, he prefers to be a behind-the-scenes investor.

Kevin O'Leary

Kevin O'Leary is a Canadian businessman and investment luminary, best known as a judge on the entrepreneurial reality show "Shark Tank." He founded and successfully sold an educational software company early in his career, and subsequently established a widespread influence through his television appearances, earning him the nickname "Mr. Fantastic." As a television personality, O'Leary primarily leverages his influence through mainstream financial media outlets such as CNBC, his personal social media platforms, and participation in industry conferences. He is forthright and pragmatic, speaking candidly about risks and opportunities. He has publicly acknowledged his own investment missteps and losses, but each failure has only made him more cautious. This combination of outspokenness and empirical rationality has endeared him to the general public. In the crypto space, O'Leary plays the role of a "rational bull," supporting innovation without blindly chasing high prices, prioritizing long-term value and compliance. This steadfast image lends credibility to traditional financial professionals.

Initially skeptical of cryptocurrencies, O'Leary has become a vocal advocate for crypto investing in recent years, allocating approximately 11% of his personal portfolio to digital assets. In a July 2024 interview with CoinDesk, he mentioned holding multiple cryptocurrencies for diversification and stated, "Solana looks like it's trending right now." O'Leary's overall outlook on Solana is cautiously positive, with a focus on compliance. He has repeatedly emphasized that the crypto market requires clear regulation to attract mainstream capital. In his view, Bitcoin and Ethereum have already "settled" and most institutions have already accepted them. If new chains like Solana can prove their value within regulatory frameworks, they will likely share in the growth of digital assets.

This isn't his first Solana investment; his connection to Solana stems from his collaboration with SBF. In 2021, he became a paid spokesperson for FTX. From this relationship, O'Leary received approximately $15 million, including equity, tokens in the FTX wallet, and tax reimbursement. He also personally invested approximately $1 million in FTX Equity. It's safe to say that during that time, he experienced a truly wonderful "honeymoon period" with the FTX ecosystem and Solana.

Just a month before the FTX debacle in 2022, O'Leary was invited to a public meeting on Reddit's r/CryptoCurrency subreddit. During his discussion with community members, O'Leary explained his belief that Solana's processing speed far surpassed Ethereum's, which would open up numerous possibilities for financial institution adoption. He also mentioned that after meeting the Solana team, he considered them some of the smartest minds in his years at software companies. He viewed crypto as "productivity software," similar to investing in Microsoft or Google, and believed that the success of each project hinged on the strength of the technical team behind it.

Looking back, after the FTX debacle, O'Leary attended a hearing accused of "misleading investors." He didn't disparage SBF to exonerate himself (even though he himself had lost millions of dollars). He said he needed more data to prove his point, and that the "share dispute" between SBF and CZ ultimately led to the collapse of his capital chain. At the end of the hearing, he remained confident in the development of the cryptocurrency industry, stating, "FTX's collapse will not stop the venture capital world from pursuing the next unicorn. If there is a silver lining in this chaos, it is that the crypto industry will finally receive long-awaited regulation."

Although Solana's price has since plummeted, the team behind it has brought Solana back to the forefront, suggesting O'Leary's investment vision is quite accurate. However, his investment strategy focuses on diversification, avoiding single-coin bets by holding a variety of outstanding projects. He openly admits that his investment career "relies on winners to offset losers," and therefore casts a wide net in the crypto space to increase his odds of success. His support for Solana is more of a portfolio investment than a dedicated Solana evangelist.

But as the saying goes, "the butt determines the head." With the shift in policy direction and the development of Solana, I wonder if O'Leary will invest more in Solana in his investment portfolio, thereby connecting Solana to 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 Asymmetric, a crypto hedge fund backed by renowned institutions such as Andreessen Horowitz, Chris Dixon, and Circle, as well as the founders of Solana and Multicoin. McCann has over 24 years of experience on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley. He previously served as Senior Director of Cloud and AI at Microsoft (focusing on M&A and startups), led crypto trading at Passport Capital, and founded NodeSource (the Node.js company). He serves as an advisor to numerous blockchain companies, including Zebec in the Solana ecosystem, and is active at global blockchain conferences, frequently promoting emerging technologies to mainstream audiences.

McCann is arguably the most staunch Solana bull among the candidates. He has publicly stated that he is a "die-hard fan" of Solana, having "buyed as much Solana as possible in the $8-11 range" during the market downturn between 2021 and 2022. Like Kyle Samani, he believes Ethereum is currently in an "identity crisis," with its role as a supercomputer being replaced by Solana, which is why he holds "0 ETH" in his fund. McCann emphasizes Solana's technological and cultural advantages. He believes that Solana's high-throughput architecture, low fees, early integration into mainstream culture, and the trend towards regulatory compliance all contribute to his high optimism about Solana.

Joe McCann and Dragonfly co-founder Haseeb discussed the issues of traditional IPOs and blockchain value discovery during the PumpFun ICO

To deepen his Solana investment, McCann also promoted a series of practical projects. In mid-2025, he proposed the establishment of a Solana digital asset treasury company called Accelerate, aiming to raise $1.5 billion through a SPAC, with McCann serving as co-founder and CEO. However, the SPAC deal was terminated in August 2025. Previously, Asymmetric publicly reported significant losses due to its heavy Solana investment, with the fund losing nearly 80% in the first half of 2025. McCann offered LPs the option to exit or roll their capital into designated illiquid investments (i.e., the Solana treasury).

Despite this, he continued to invest heavily in the Solana ecosystem, including early investments in BONK, which yielded substantial returns, and investments in Solana infrastructure such as Syndica, Light Protocol, and Ranger. Overall, McCann is one of the few figures who simultaneously wields influence in both traditional finance and crypto. With his Wall Street background and professional analytical perspective, he also actively promotes Solana with a high profile, making him a key voice in the Solana ecosystem.

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

In summary, Anthony Scaramucci is the most likely candidate for Solana's Tom Lee. He holds a substantial "SOL Bag" and consistently voices his bullish stance on Solana, while also possessing Wall Street connections and media exposure. While Joe McCann's enthusiasm and commitment to Solana are equally strong, his visibility on Wall Street and among the general public is less than Scaramucci's. Other candidates lack various aspects of their holdings, popularity, and public profile. Novogratz holds significant Solana assets, and Galaxy Digital, his company, is about to launch a Solana ETF. However, the platform's underlying factors may be more neutral, with a current focus on Bitcoin and Ethereum. Kyle Samani is extremely optimistic, but lacks a traditional financial background and is more of an emerging investor. Palihapitiya and O'Leary, while influential, lack a consistent track record of leading Solana.

But looking ahead, who will ultimately hold the Solana flag high? It's likely more than one person. Just as Tom Lee has a group of Ethereum believers behind him, rallying their support and driving the entire Ethereum ecosystem forward, Solana needs multifaceted representatives. The community behind Solana, which has rebounded from its slump, may be even stronger than imagined.

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