Solana co-founder Stephen Akridge and his ex-wife Elisa Rossi are in court over financial disputes. Elisa Rossi accuses Stephen Akridge of illegally misappropriating and staking the Solana cryptocurrency SOL from her crypto wallet, but he did not give her a single cent of the nearly millions of dollars in staking rewards.
Elisa Rossi is Italian and currently resides in Rome; she was married to Akridge for nearly 10 years. According to the lawsuit filed in California court on Tuesday, the Solana co-founder withheld millions of dollars in reward currency from his ex-wife. Elisa Rossi is suing Stephen Akridge to recover the earnings.
This couple accumulated a vast amount of wealth and assets during their marriage, primarily due to Akridge's position as a co-founder at Solana Labs. State court records show that in 2023, the couple filed for divorce in court. According to California law, the couple's property and debts are jointly owned, and divorcing couples typically need to hire lawyers to protect their financial interests.
Elisa Rossi filed for a divorce agreement, believing she is entitled to the token rewards. Rossi claims her ex-husband took advantage of her lack of understanding of cryptocurrency to pocket all the staking rewards from the Solana she owned.
Who is Stephen Akridge?
Stephen Akridge is a software engineer; before the news broke, he was not as prominent as the other two co-founders of Solana Labs, Anatoly Yakavenko and Raj Gokal. He left Solana Labs in January this year, taking 45 employees with him, and co-founded Anza, but he remains an important stakeholder in Solana. In October this year, he was appointed CEO of the cybersecurity company Cyber Grant.
Akridge's ex-wife Rossi claims that after discovering her Solana was staked, she contacted Akridge multiple times requesting its return, but her ex-husband just laughed and said: good luck, you've earned my staking rewards.
Crypto family: Exchange founders love 'marriages of convenience'.
In California, marital property is considered community property, and deposits in banks are also communal. But are cryptocurrency assets also considered communal property? The most famous expert on gender dynamics in the crypto world is Chinese billionaire and Binance founder Zhao Changpeng, who has two partners who have stood by him unwaveringly, serving as an example. They not only do not fight over property but also help their husband make money. When Zhao Changpeng encountered issues, both partners came out in support of him.
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried used his ex-girlfriend Caroline Ellison to open Alameda Research to launder money misappropriated from FTX exchange investors.
Coinbase founder Brian Armstrong got married this year; his wife Angela Meng is a banking investment and financial expert and has a background in journalism, having reported on political and economic news for the South China Morning Post and Reuters in Beijing. Due to her good looks, she also walked in fashion shows and is an amateur model.
Exchange founders treat their partners as 'wives with benefits' and 'partners in crime'; can the other half's crypto wallet be used to hide personal funds? It seems impossible, as the unique public and transparent ledger of blockchain makes it clear where the money is moved, and if things go south, evidence can be found immediately.
If a partner doesn’t understand what cryptocurrency is and uses the other’s wallet for financial transactions, it is equivalent to treating the other as a mule, which constitutes a crime.
This article 'Crypto Family: The Dramatic Divorce and Property Dispute of Solana’s Co-founder' first appeared in Chain News ABMedia.
