FTX Quietly Stakes $79M in Ethereum

Key Takeaways:

• FTX and Alameda Research staked 20,736 ETH (~$79 million) amid bankruptcy estate proceedings.
• The staked ETH follows a $75.3 million withdrawal from Bybit between December 2024 and January 2025.
• The firms previously unstaked over $431 million in Solana, signaling strategic asset shifts ahead of a $1.9B creditor payout.

Wallets linked to defunct trading giants FTX and Alameda Research have just staked over 20,000 ETH, valued at nearly $80 million. This development has caught the attention of on-chain analysts, arriving just months before the firms are set to distribute nearly $2 billion to creditors. The strategic staking move has raised questions about what’s next in the saga of one of crypto’s biggest collapses.

On-chain analytics platform Lookonchain reported that FTX/Alameda staked 20,736 ETH, worth approximately $79 million, within a single hour on Wednesday. This action comes after a notable withdrawal of 21,650 ETH from Bybit between December 17, 2024, and January 9, 2025, at an average price of $3,478 per ETH, roughly $75.3 million.

These moves are part of the broader bankruptcy-driven asset restructuring, where FTX and its associated entities are gradually consolidating and reallocating digital assets. The purpose of this particular staking transaction remains undisclosed, but it suggests a calculated approach to maximize returns, possibly through ETH staking rewards while awaiting further creditor disbursements.

Read More: Binance Hits Back at FTX’s $1.76B Lawsuit, Blames Collapse on “Historic Fraud”

This Ethereum staking isn’t the first significant token shift by FTX/Alameda. In March 2025, the firms unstaked over 3 million SOL, valued at about $431 million, marking one of the largest single-asset movements from their holdings to date.

After the SOL was unstaked, around 25,000 SOL (~$3.3 million) was transferred to Binance, indicating potential liquidation. These decisions are likely tied to their court-approved weekly asset disposal limits, which aim to return value to creditors while avoiding major market disruption.

The Solana unstaking occurred after months of token sales, starting in November 2023, and demonstrates a clear trend: the FTX estate is carefully moving high-value crypto holdings to more liquid or yield-bearing positions.

Read More: Ethereum Spot ETF Inflows Hit $332M as Altcoin Rotation Surges, Flipping Bitcoin Volume

FTX recently announced that its third round of creditor distributions, amounting to $1.9 billion, is scheduled for September 30, 2025. The decision came after a Delaware bankruptcy court reduced the disputed claims reserve from $6.5 billion to $4.3 billion, freeing more capital for direct repayment.

Notably, creditors in China and certain restricted jurisdictions are expected to be excluded from this round. That could leave more funds available to eligible creditors elsewhere.

Some observers believe that the staking is a move that tends to maximize yield whereas others perceive the staking as temporary assimilation of assets until they are required to be liquidated. The nature of ETH staking is to freeze the tokens over an indefinite time and so the question arises: Is FTX dragging on liquidation to wait till the time when the market conditions improve or regulatory insights are available?

Ethereum’s price was hovering around $3,800 in late July 2025, the broader crypto market pushing a $4 trillion valuation, and time is of the essence. Waiting to sell huge amounts of ETH or SOL makes some sense for FTX to maximize recovery value while tempering creditor expectations.

Millions of creditors are yet to see transparency, value and recovery from their losses in the FTX estate. On-chain sleuths and legal teams are scrutinizing every wallet move.

More broadly, these changes indicate a continued evolution of how bankrupted crypto firms will ultimately manage their tokenized assets, with staking, bridge transfers and CEX moves all being utilized not as desperate asset grab but as part of a strategic plan to actually rebuild that company.

With FTX in the home stretch of its bankruptcy yet, the crypto world will be eagerly watching every block, transaction and payout.

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