Solana ID, a Solana-based identity and advertising startup, is winding down after failing to build enough traction across apps, advertisers and users to sustain its marketplace.
The project said in a Wednesday post on X, Aug. 19, that it will shut down the Solana ID Hub, its API services and the Solana Display Network by the end of September, blaming difficulties bootstrapping its two-sided marketplace, limited traffic from larger applications, shrinking marketing budgets and constrained fundraising conditions.
- More than 17,000 users had joined the Solana ID Hub by the time of the announcement.
— Solana ID 🪷 (@solanaidentity) August 19, 2026
From identity layer to advertising network
Solana ID initially positioned itself as a privacy-focused identity and reputation protocol, allowing users to connect wallets to create on-chain profiles.
The startup later expanded into advertising with the Solana Display Network, a product designed to let Solana apps monetize traffic by serving offers based on users' on-chain activity.
- By Solana Breakpoint in December 2025, Simon Molitor, Solana ID's co-founder, was pitching a much larger opportunity.
- He said he expected every targeted advertisement on Solana to eventually flow through Solana ID within 12 months.
- The company estimated Solana's addressable targeted-advertising market at roughly $2 billion over that period and said about 85% remained untapped.
- At the time, Solana ID said it had more than 15,000 Hub users, had run over 15 campaigns and had integrations with more than five high-traffic applications.
More than $1 million raised
Solana ID had raised at least $750,000 through token pre-seed and pre-sale rounds by late 2024, according to figures published by the project.
- That included a $250,000 pre-seed round involving Blockchain Founders Group, angel investors and the zkPass ecosystem fund, followed by another $550,000 raise connected with SwissBorg.
By Breakpoint 2025, Solana ID was presenting its total funding as more than $1 million.
The project, whose SOLID token launched in December 2024, had also worked with Solana ecosystem apps including Velocity (formerly known as Drift), Backpack, Lulo and KAST.
Still, despite those integrations, Solana ID said its marketplace struggled with the classic problem of attracting both sides at once. Advertisers needed meaningful user traffic, while apps needed advertiser demand to justify deeper integrations.
That dynamic, compounded by lower marketing spending and a difficult fundraising environment, ultimately left the startup without enough momentum to continue operating the network.