Solana's Shanghai Event Halted With Officers Present, Attendees Say

A Solana Foundation event at Shanghai’s Shangri-La hotel was suspended on Oct. 16 local time, with law enforcement present and attendees blocked from entering, according to accounts posted by people at the venue.

The interruption followed foundation executive Rachel Conlan’s promotion of a new Shanghai office. “From visiting the new office to seeing Solana light up the Shanghai skyline,” she wrote on Oct. 14 ET.

The official registration page identifies the foundation as host of Solana Accelerate Shanghai, part of a four-city tour connecting Chinese developers and entrepreneurs with the blockchain’s global ecosystem. The program advertised developer tools, live demonstrations, financial infrastructure and consumer products.

An attendee posting as @knowyourself518 wrote that “the event was temporarily suspended,” according to a translation of the Chinese-language post. The attendee estimated that eight or nine law enforcement officers were present and said people had been kept outside the meeting room for more than an hour.

A second attendee, @coseryaya, said police cleared attendees from the site. The poster said staff described the event as temporarily canceled, with further arrangements to be communicated by email. The accounts did not identify a specific rule invoked by authorities or explain the reason for the intervention.

China’s Crypto Restrictions Remain in Force

A Feb. 6 notice issued by the People’s Bank of China and seven other agencies maintains prohibitions on crypto exchange services and token fundraising in mainland China. It also bars internet companies from providing commercial displays, marketing and paid traffic for virtual-currency-related business, and directs regulators to investigate unlawful crypto-related advertising.

In October 2025, the Chinese-language Solana community group Solar said it canceled the final hackathon demonstration session at Accelerate APAC in Shenzhen for public-safety reasons after police inquiries and confirmation of overcrowding.

Solana’s announced tour schedule lists the next stops as Hangzhou on Oct. 18, Shenzhen on Oct. 20 and Beijing on Oct. 22, all local dates.