An influential member of the Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) developer ecosystem has openly challenged renowned whistleblower Edward Snowden to prove his claims about the blockchain's centralization, sparking a heated debate in cryptocurrency circles.

What Happened: Mert Mumtaz, CEO of Solana-based developer platform Helius, took to X to challenge Snowden's assertion that Solana is a centralized network and asked him to provide concrete data to back the claim.

Mumtaz argued that it would be impossible for a single entity to gain control over Solana's network, given its vast distribution across different jurisdictions, countries, and governments.

"If you can't do this and you call Solana centralized, you are full of baloney," Mumtaz commented.

He also pointed out that while Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) and Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) might be more decentralized than Solana, it doesn't imply that Solana is centralized. Mumtaz invited Snowden to a live debate on the issue.

The rebuttal was in response to Snowden's remarks at the Token 2049 cryptocurrency conference in Singapore, where he touched on Solana's operations.

"A lot of people and you know I don't want to name names but Solana are taking good ideas and they're just going, 'Well, what if we just centralized everything? It'll be faster, it'll be more efficient, (and) it'll be cheaper.' Yeah sure, it is. You're right, but nobody's using it but for like meme coins and scams."

Why It Matters: Snowden is one of the biggest decentralization advocates, praising Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) and cryptocurrencies for their role in resisting state interference. During the Token 2049 conference, he cautioned against diluting these principles to appease institutional investors.

His remarks questioning Solana's challenge come at a time when a prominent cryptocurrency commentator predicted that the network's native token SOL would jump fivefold by the fourth quarter of 2025.

Last month, Anthony Scaramucci, CEO of SkyBridge Capital, highlighted the potential of tokenization to revolutionize the financial system, a sector he believed Solana is well-positioned to lead.

The debate between Mumtaz and Snowden could provide further insights into Solana's decentralization and its potential to reshape the future of the internet.

Price Action: At the time of writing, SOL was exchanging hands at $142.07, down nearly 4% in the last 24 hours, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.