CISO appointment
Solana Foundation appoints Michael Coates as Chief Information Security Officer
Michael Coates is the Chief Information Security Officer of Solana Foundation.
| Person | Michael Coates |
|---|---|
| New role | Chief Information Security Officer |
| Company | Solana Foundation |
| Announced | July 6, 2026 |
| Source | SecurityWeek Industry Moves (week of July 6, 2026) |
What this move signals
The Solana Foundation appointed Michael Coates as Chief Information Security Officer, as announced the week of July 6, 2026. The announced date reflects the week of publication; the exact announcement day may differ by a few days.
A foundation-level CISO in a major blockchain ecosystem carries an unusual mandate: the security perimeter isn't a corporate network but a protocol, its validator ecosystem, and billions of dollars in on-chain value. It's one of the few CISO seats where a single class of bug is directly convertible to attacker profit at scale.