Solana co-founder allegedly kept millions in staking rewards from ex-wife in ‘acrimonious’ divorce

Stephen Akridge, a co-founder of Solana, allegedly withheld millions of dollars in crypto from his ex-wife, according to a lawsuit she filed in California state court on Tuesday.

Elisa Rossi, an Italian citizen who now lives in Rome, and Akridge were married for almost 10 years.

The couple had “amassed a great deal of wealth and assets during their marriage,” largely from Akridge’s role in the founding of Solana Labs, the company that created the Solana blockchain, according to the lawsuit.

In 2023, the couple filed for divorce, according to state court records. In her lawsuit, Rossi claims that the divorce was “acrimonious and prolonged.”

As part of the divorce settlement, she was entitled to a portion of the couple’s SOL tokens. The cryptocurrency now boasts a market value of $90 billion, according to CoinGecko.

Rossi’s Solana was staked, or when cryptocurrencies are held in escrow to secure a blockchain.

In return for not moving their crypto, stakers receive interest.

Rossi claims that although Akridge appeared to give her control of her portion of Solana, he did not give her the staking rewards, which amounted to “millions of dollars.”

The lawsuit redacts the specific amounts that Akridge allegedly withheld from Rossi.

Akridge did not immediately respond to requests for comment by email, text, or through a LinkedIn message.

Rossi’s lawyer did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

Key stakeholder

The lawsuit against Akridge is a rare glimpse into the finances of a co-founder of one of the market’s top cryptocurrencies.

Akridge isn’t as visible as Anatoly Yakavenko or Raj Gokal, the other two co-founders of Solana Labs.

Still, he was a key stakeholder who split from Solana Labs in January to launch Anza, a Solana software developer, along with half of Solana Labs’ staff.

In October, he was appointed CEO of Cyber Grant, a cybersecurity company.

His divorce dispute also reflects how crypto has become another source of conflict when couples split up.

In 2023, CNBC reported how a husband allegedly hid $500,000 in Bitcoin from his wife during their divorce.

Rossi said that her former husband similarly took advantage of her comparative lack of crypto know-how to pocket her Solana staking rewards.

She “knew very little about the blockchain, cryptocurrencies, or staking,” said the lawsuit.

‘Good luck’

After she found out that Akridge had withheld Solana from her, she reached out to him more than a dozen times between May and December to ask for her crypto.

At one point, Akridge allegedly laughed in her face, according to the suit. ”Good luck getting those staking rewards from me,” he said.

Ben Weiss is DL News’ Dubai Correspondent. Got a tip? Email him at bweiss@dlnews.com.