Stephen Akridge, a co-founder of Solana Labs Inc. and holder of Solana tokens, a digital asset that has a total market cap of over $90 billion, is facing legal action in San Francisco state court for transferring authority over the cryptocurrency to his ex-wife under a divorce agreement but directing the "millions of dollars" of yield—the blockchain equivalent of interest—to addresses under his control.

The couple’s story dates back to March 8, 2013, when Akridge, the defendant, who worked at Qualcomm Inc., a semiconductor company, married Elisa Rossi, the plaintiff. About five years later, Anatoly Yakovenko, Akridge’s colleague, recruited him and four others to start a company that would become Solana Labs.