Solana's Shanghai Skyline Stint Lasted Roughly One Reddit Refresh 🏙️

A Solana advertising campaign on Shanghai's iconic Bund waterfront was removed within 10 minutes of going up, according to Binance founder Changpeng "CZ" Zhao, who rejected social media suggestions that his own viral X post prompted the takedown. The ad had hinted at a softening of China's long-standing restrictions on cryptocurrency, and its swift removal underscored how far any such opening remains from reality.

Solana had earlier announced the opening of a Shanghai office, with core member Vibhu and Foundation Chair Lily Liu stating publicly that the space occupies the world's "highest" commercial office. Rachel Conlan, Chief Strategy Officer of the Solana Foundation, posted images on X showing her visit to the new office and the $SOL brand's presence across the city skyline. Organizers later postponed a Solana event in the city on Friday after officers kept guests outside.

CZ addressed the controversy in an X post on October 16, 2026, writing: "Saw some comments about my post on this topic 👇 🤣 1. I am always supportive of any blockchain making any progress in any country. BTC, ETH, BNB, XRP, SOL, HYPE, ZEC, SIGN, all stablecoins, etc, you name it… 2. I was happy that SOL can advertise and get an office in…" His post on the office drew more than 1 million views.

CZ clarified that he only saw the ad on X 12 to 24 hours after it had already been taken down, and that a screenshot he posted still showed the $SOL ad visible. "Since China monitors speech and media in real time, censors had acted long before his post," according to a summary of his remarks. A public ad, he argued, would have signaled that China had unbanned crypto, conceding that "that's not quite the case yet, it seems."

Mainland China has banned crypto trading since 2021, and regulators widened the crackdown in February to cover stablecoin issuance and asset tokenization. CZ nevertheless called the campaign a good effort and urged builders to keep pushing adoption, noting that Binance launched in China in 2017 before new rules on token sales pushed the exchange offshore.