FTX Estate Stakes $122 Million Solana (SOL), Quells Fear Of Token Sell-Off

The FTX estate has reportedly staked 5.5 million Solana (SOL), worth $122 million. This development comes amidst fears of the defunct crypto exchange liquidating a substantial portion of its SOL holdings and inducing a bearish trend.

On October 14, blockchain tracking platform Whale Alert reported that 5.5 million SOL had been transferred between two unknown wallets. Thereafter, a crypto analyst with the X username ashpool soon identified the FTX exchange to be behind this whale transaction.

Using data from gelato.sh, ashpool revealed that the FTX exchange had delegated the said 5.5 million SOL to the Figment staking service, an active validator on the Solana network. 

FTX estate is staking 5.5M SOLhttps://t.co/ajRgBHFNt9 https://t.co/UGorSGMtwC

— ashpool (@solanobahn) October 14, 2023

In September, the management of the bankrupt crypto exchange obtained court approval to liquidate its crypto holdings, valued at $3.4 billion, as they look to pay off their creditors.

Solana accounts for the largest part of FTX’s crypto assets, with the exchange reportedly owning 55.8 million SOL, worth $1.16 billion. 

However, the majority of this SOL are currently staked, with FTX reportedly having access to 7 million SOL as of September, most of which had been sold off. 

On October 6, 9.1 million SOL, worth about $212 million, owned by Alameda Research – FTX’s defunct trading wing – were reportedly unstaked, prompting new fears of market sell-off by the FTX estate. 

However, FTX’s latest move to stake 5.5 million SOL shows the exchange is holding on to its SOL investments for now, which could be interpreted as a reassuring move for traders with fears of liquidation.

Despite its bankrupt status, FTX is still considered a major player in the Solana ecosystem, owning 10% of SOL’s total supply. In addition to its SOL holdings, FTX also owns 20,500 BTC worth $560 million and 112,600 ETH, worth $192 million, among other crypto assets. 

In other news, SOL is up by 16.06% in the last months despite fears of liquidation and worrying factors linked to the FTX exchange. 

Most recently, there were circulating rumors that the defunct exchange could “switch off” the Solana blockchain if it found the need to liquidate the long position of traders.

However, these rumors were soon debunked by multiple accounts as fake. In fact, Jacob Creech, Head of Developers at Solana, drew the community’s attention to the fact there is a $400,000 SOL bounty for anyone who can find a “switch off” for the network.  

At the time of writing, SOL is trading at $21.98, with a 2.34% gain in the last day. Meanwhile, the token’s daily trading volume is up by 10.18% and is valued at $267.07 million.