Toly Draws a Line in the Sand
Anatoly Yakovenko, co-founder of Solana Labs and one of the most influential voices in blockchain infrastructure, posted a blunt message to his 700,000+ followers on X: "Every cycle we need to get back to basics. Self custody and trustless and verified immutable software."
The statement, published on February 9, 2026, landed at a moment when the broader crypto market is still processing the aftershocks of a $1.34 billion liquidation event that rattled centralized exchanges just days earlier. With 138 likes and 8,100+ views in the first hour, the post resonated with developers and traders alike who have watched cycle after cycle repeat the same pattern: innovation followed by shortcuts, followed by collapses that punish anyone who handed over their keys.
Yakovenko's call is not abstract philosophy. It arrives alongside concrete infrastructure changes, most notably Solana's Alpenglow consensus upgrade, that are designed to make self-custody cheaper, faster, and more accessible than ever.
Why "Back to Basics" Hits Different in 2026
Every crypto cycle has its version of the same lesson. In 2014, it was Mt. Gox. In 2022, it was FTX and Celsius. In 2025, a string of exchange hacks targeting centralized platforms managing over $2.5 trillion in assets reminded the market that counterparty risk never truly goes away.
The pattern is predictable: bull markets attract capital, capital attracts builders, builders build shortcuts, shortcuts break. When Yakovenko says "every cycle," he is pointing at a structural problem, not a one-time event.
Centralized exchanges remain prime targets precisely because they concentrate control. When users deposit funds on custodial platforms, they relinquish direct control of private keys, transferring asset ownership to the exchange operator. That model works until it does not. Withdrawal freezes, security breaches, and regulatory seizures all exploit the same vulnerability: someone else holds your keys.
Self-custody eliminates that single point of failure. The user signs every transaction. No intermediary can freeze, move, or lose the funds without the owner's explicit approval.
Alpenglow: Solana Puts Infrastructure Behind the Words
What separates Yakovenko's statement from typical crypto Twitter rhetoric is that Solana is actively building the infrastructure to support it. The Alpenglow upgrade, approved by 98.27% of validators, is the most significant consensus change in Solana's history.
The numbers are striking:
| Metric | Before Alpenglow | After Alpenglow |
|---|---|---|
| Transaction finality | 12.8 seconds | 150 milliseconds |
| Validator annual cost | ~$60,000/year | ~$1,000/year |
| Vote mechanism | On-chain (costly) | Off-chain with proof |
| Finality improvement | Baseline | ~100x faster |
The upgrade replaces Solana's current vote transaction system with a flat "Validator Admission Ticket" of 1.6 SOL per epoch, burning the fee rather than redistributing it. That 98% cost reduction is not a minor optimization. It directly lowers the barrier for smaller operators to run validators, which strengthens decentralization.
Two new core components, Votor (block voting and finalization) and Rotor (data propagation), redefine how validators communicate. Off-chain voting lets validators exchange votes privately and post a single proof, freeing blockspace for actual user transactions.
For self-custody users, faster finality and lower network congestion mean swaps, transfers, and DeFi interactions complete in under a second. That is the kind of infrastructure that makes self-custody wallets competitive with centralized exchange experiences.
What This Means for Crypto Card and Wallet Users
Toly's message has direct implications for anyone spending crypto through cards or wallets. The entire value proposition of crypto cards depends on reliable, fast settlement. A self-custody card that takes 12 seconds to finalize a transaction at a point of sale is impractical. One that finalizes in 150 milliseconds is not.
Solana-based card and wallet projects, including Solflare and Jupiter, stand to benefit directly from Alpenglow's speed improvements. Faster finality means merchants see confirmation almost instantly, removing one of the last friction points between self-custody and real-world spending.
The cost reduction also matters for staking-based card models. Several crypto cards tie rewards to staking activity, and lower validator costs on Solana could translate to better yields for delegators. When the infrastructure costs 98% less to run, that margin has to go somewhere, and competitive pressure suggests it flows toward user rewards.
For holders who use both centralized and decentralized tools, this is the practical argument Toly is making: the infrastructure for trustless, self-custodial finance is reaching the point where the convenience gap with centralized services is closing fast.
The Broader Industry Reckoning With Custody Models
Yakovenko's statement fits into a wider industry trend. January 2026 saw multiple institutional custody platforms launch or expand MPC (multi-party computation) wallet offerings specifically designed for Solana, bringing the total to 11 specialized custody providers serving the ecosystem.
The push is coming from both directions. Retail users, burned by past exchange failures, are increasingly demanding self-custody options. Institutions, required by regulations to demonstrate asset segregation and security, are building the infrastructure to support it.
Ethereum's parallel focus on account abstraction and Layer 2 scaling tells the same story from a different angle. The DeFi reboot of 2026 is being defined less by speculative cycles and more by practical infrastructure that makes decentralized finance usable for daily transactions.
Projects like Gnosis Pay and Ledger are already proving that self-custody spending works at scale. The gap between "hold your own keys" and "spend your own keys" is narrowing faster than most market participants realize.
FAQ
What did Toly say about self-custody? Anatoly Yakovenko, co-founder of Solana, posted on X that "every cycle we need to get back to basics" and emphasized self-custody and trustless, verified immutable software as crypto's core principles.
What is Solana's Alpenglow upgrade? Alpenglow is Solana's largest consensus upgrade, reducing transaction finality from 12.8 seconds to 150 milliseconds and cutting validator costs by approximately 98%. It was approved by 98.27% of Solana validators.
How does Alpenglow affect self-custody users? Faster finality and lower network costs make self-custody wallets more practical for everyday spending, DeFi interactions, and real-time payments, closing the convenience gap with centralized exchanges.
When will Alpenglow launch on Solana mainnet? Alpenglow went to testnet in late 2025 and is expected to deploy to mainnet in Q1 2026.
Overview
Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko's call to return to self-custody and trustless software is more than a tweet. It is backed by Alpenglow, a consensus upgrade that slashes validator costs by 98% and cuts transaction finality to 150 milliseconds. For crypto card and wallet users, this translates to faster, cheaper, and more reliable self-custodial spending. The infrastructure gap between custodial convenience and self-custody security is closing, and Toly's message is simple: the basics are not optional, they are the entire point.
Recommended Reading
- Ledger Unlocks Bitcoin Yield for Self-Custody Holders Through Lombard and Figment
- How to Stack Crypto Card Rewards With DeFi Yield
- OKX Wallet Has Blocked 8.53 Million Malicious Domains and Recovered $896 Million in Assets Since Launch
