Solana Shanghai Launch Shut Down Within 48 Hours: CZ Shifts from "Envy" to "Questioning Local Policy Understanding"

Dramatic Reversal: Celebrating Victory Yesterday, Locked Out Today

Just two days ago (Oct 14), the Solana Foundation held a grand unveiling in Lujiazui, with giant SOLANA letters glowing on the LED facade of the Citigroup Tower on the Bund and its office officially inaugurated on the 62nd floor of the Shanghai Tower. At the time, Binance founder CZ posted a series of tweets on X, stating outright that he "envies what Solana has achieved that BNB Chain hasn't yet" (See: What happened 48 hours before Solana moved to Shanghai).

However, just 48 hours later on October 16, the highly anticipated Solana Accelerate China 2026 tour—spanning four cities (Shanghai → Beijing → Shenzhen → Chengdu)—stalled on its very first day. At 9:00 AM that morning, organizers emailed all registered attendees stating: "Due to logistical considerations regarding the venue, today's agenda has been postponed. We will notify all registered participants directly once a new schedule is confirmed."

However, on-site photos shared by multiple attendees on social media starkly contradict the official narrative: attendees were held outside the hotel for over an hour, and some witnessed uniformed personnel present at the scene.

CZ's U-Turn: From Envy to "Do You Really Not Understand Local Policy?"

CZ quickly responded on X regarding the Shanghai incident:

Sad to see. Looks like they really didn't know the local policies?

This comment starkly contrasts with his attitude from 48 hours ago, when he envied Solana’s ability to land in China, and it quickly went viral across the crypto industry.

It's worth noting that the operator behind this China market offensive is none other than former Binance CMO Rachel Conlan——she joined the Solana Foundation as CSO (Chief Strategy Officer) just in September, and Solana's entry into Shanghai marks her debut after taking office.

This isn’t Solana’s first setback in China.

Readers familiar with the industry may recall, this March Solana had previously, due to its promotion tied to government endorsement, temporarily canceled the event at Shanghai Hongqiao Ali Center, and subsequently adjusted its entire China market strategy. During this Accelerate China tour, officials carefully focused their promotion on "developers, AI, and Web3 infrastructure," deliberately avoiding any wording related to crypto trading—but even so, the event was still shut down.

Since China imposed a blanket ban on cryptocurrency trading in September 2021, there has been no sign of the regulatory red line loosening. Major crypto platforms such as BNB Chain, OKX, and Bybit have not established formal offices in mainland China, while the Solana Foundation’s high‑profile sign‑up in the core of Lujiazui is itself a subtle probe.

Industry signal: The wall of crypto bans still stands.

This incident sends a clear signal to the entire crypto industry: China's regulation of crypto-related activities will not loosen just because an overseas foundation's "low-key" PR. Even if the event never mentions "coin", "token", or "trading" throughout, as long as it is directly tied to a blockchain public chain, it remains within the scope of strict supervision.

As of press time, the Solana Foundation has not responded to claims by on-site witnesses of a "uniformed personnel" incident, and there is no clear timetable on whether the Shanghai event will be postponed. Registrations for the Beijing, Shenzhen, and Chengdu stops have been temporarily closed.