Solana co-founder Stephen Akridge accused of misappropriating ex-wife’s crypto gains

Stephen Akridge, co-founder of Solana, is embroiled in a legal dispute with his ex-wife, Elisa Rossi, over alleged misappropriation of substantial gains from Solana (SOL) tokens, Bloomberg News reported on Dec. 27.

Rossi claims that Akridge used his advanced expertise in crypto and blockchain to siphon off staking rewards from her digital wallet.

According to the complaint, Akridge’s actions resulted in Rossi losing “millions of dollars” in income. She further alleged that Akridge controlled her accounts from early March to mid-May and reaped 100% of the staking commissions allocated to her SOL holdings.

While the exact value of the disputed tokens remains undisclosed, Rossi has described the sums as “significant” and requested portions of the complaint be kept confidential. Solana Labs and attorneys representing Akridge and Rossi have not commented publicly.

Akridge was a principal engineer at Solana and played a key role in developing the blockchain platform alongside co-founders Anatoly Yakovenko and Raj Gokal. Before his involvement in Solana, Akridge worked at Qualcomm Inc. He is now the CEO of Cyber Grant, a California-based cybersecurity firm.

The couple filed for divorce in February 2023 after a decade of marriage. Rossi’s lawsuit alleges breach of contract, unjust enrichment, and fraud and seeks damages for the financial losses she claims to have incurred.

Liquid staking growth on Solana

According to different platforms, staking SOL tokens grants an annual percentage yield (APY) ranging from 5.6% to 12%.

However, users boost their yields using liquid staking platforms, as the total value locked (TVL) on Jito suggests. The protocol is the largest on Solana by TVL, approaching $2.7 billion per DefiLlama data. The liquid staking market represents roughly 50% of Solana’s entire TVL.

Liquid staking gives the user a proxy token in the same amount allocated in staking, in addition to the platform’s APY. As a result, the new token generated can be used on different decentralized finance protocols, boosting potential rewards.

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