One of Washington’s top crypto lobbyists is establishing the country's first nonprofit focused on the interests of Solana, the popular blockchain that has emerged in recent years as a crucial hub for meme coin trading and decentralized finance.

Miller Whitehouse-Levine, who previously headed the DeFi Education Fund, announced Monday he has started the Solana Policy Institute and will serve as its inaugural CEO. The Solana Policy Institute describes itself as a nonpartisan nonprofit advocating for decentralized networks like Solana that “are the future infrastructure of the digital economy.”

Whitehouse-Levine told Decrypt that because of the digital asset industry’s newfound political cache in D.C., now seemed like a key moment to ensure the interests of a blockchain as popular and important as Solana were being properly represented in interactions with lawmakers.

“This is the moment for crypto policy,” he said. “Folks in Washington are taking a closer look at crypto’s use cases and benefits, and I strongly believe now is the moment to shape smart regulation.” 

2025 has already seen an unprecedented flurry of crypto-related moves in the nation’s capitol. President Donald Trump has signed multiple crypto-related executive orders since returning to office, and is expected to sign more. Both chambers of Congress are currently advancing multiple pieces of crypto legislation at breakneck speed, and the lawmakers behind those bills have expressed optimism some of them could be signed into law by the summer’s end.

As the political power of the crypto industry has grown considerably over the last year, so too has the centrality of Solana to the broader crypto ecosystem.

Last year, thanks largely to the proliferation of Solana-based meme coin platforms like Pump.fun, the blockchain saw an explosion of activity. According to one report, crypto’s top networks saw 220 million active address uses on a monthly basis in 2024. Nearly half of those addresses—a full 100 million—were on Solana alone. The next closest competitor, Ethereum layer-2 network Base, saw 22 million. 

Like many decentralized blockchains, Solana’s operations and mission are supported by a nonprofit organization, the Solana Foundation. The Solana Foundation, though, which is based in Switzerland, is not formally affiliated with the Solana Policy Institute, a person familiar with the matter told Decrypt. 

Whitehouse-Levine is currently the Solana Policy Institute's sole employee. The team plans to expand soon.  

Edited by James Rubin