A former prime minister, a former chancellor and the chair of a fintech giant will share a stage this month at a conference about blockchain. The Solana Foundation announced on October 27 that Boris Johnson, Sajid Javid and Revolut Chair Martin Gilbert are joining the speaker list for Solana Breakpoint 2026, which runs from 15 to 17 November at Olympia London.
Who else is on the bill
The new names also include leaders from Zelle, DTCC, Mastercard, Backpack and Bitwise, according to the foundation, as well as people from Barclays, Y Combinator, Jupiter and Helius. Earlier announcements covered Anatoly Yakovenko of Solana, Lily Liu of the Solana Foundation, Balaji Srinivasan, Raoul Pal, Anthony Soohoo of MoneyGram and Zach Abrams of Bridge, among others. More speakers and the full agenda are still to come.
Token Supercycle
This year’s theme is Token Supercycle. Organisers use the phrase for stablecoins, tokenized assets, payments and AI-driven activity moving onchain while institutions and governments work out how to respond.
Lily Liu, President of the Solana Foundation, framed the London pitch around the City. “The next generation of capital markets will run around the clock, settle in seconds and be open to anyone with an internet connection, and the decisions that determine where those markets are built are being made now,” she said. The conference, she added, puts UK policymakers and City leaders in the same room as founders already issuing tokenized equities, stablecoins and payment networks on Solana. “London has a real opportunity to become the place where that future is built.”
The timing is deliberate. Britain is in the middle of a debate about how to hold on to capital, listings and talent in London.
Johnson’s route to the stage
Johnson, 62, was Prime Minister and Conservative leader from 2019 to 2022. He was Foreign Secretary from 2016 to 2018 and Mayor of London from 2008 to 2016, and sat as MP for Henley from 2001 to 2008 and for Uxbridge and South Ruislip from 2015 to 2023. He resigned as prime minister in July 2022 after a mass resignation of ministers over his handling of Chris Pincher’s appointment as Deputy Chief Whip. In June 2023 he quit the Commons the day he received a draft report from the Privileges Committee, which unanimously found he had lied to MPs on numerous occasions.
Supporters credit him with “getting Brexit done” and with the quick vaccination programme and early help for Ukraine. Critics accuse him of dishonesty and cronyism.
Sources
- Boris Johnson
- An Ottoman palace, an angry mob and murder of Boris Johnson's great-grandfather – Türkiye Today
- Boris Johnson, Sajid Javid and Revolut’s Martin Gilbert join Solana Breakpoint 2026 speakers in London
- Mark Andrews: Yobs on buses, pedestrianisation perils, and a return of EU migration
- National Post Wires, Author at National Post
- Meet the men making Burnham’s ‘Manchester clothes’
Photo: Ben Shread (OGL 3)
