Solana Foundation Opens Shanghai Office as CZ Notes BNB Chain Has Not Matched China Push

The Solana Foundation opened an office in Shanghai and projected its branding across the city skyline, despite mainland China's ban on cryptocurrency trading since 2021. Solana Foundation Chief Strategy Officer Rachel Conlan, who joined in September after serving as Binance's chief marketing officer, shared photos of the Shanghai office and skyline promotion on October 14. The Shanghai outpost supports the Solana Accelerate China event series across Shanghai, Hangzhou, Shenzhen, and Beijing this month, targeting developers, executives, and over 100 fintech and technology companies. China's regulatory restrictions prohibit crypto trading, token sales, and exchange services—and were expanded in February to cover stablecoin issuance and real-world asset tokenization—while continuing to permit underlying blockchain technology. "It's amazing to see that Solana was able to advertise and even get an office in China. BNBChain was not able to do this, so far. Hopefully, what's good for one industry player is also good for the rest." — Changpeng Zhao, Founder of Binance.