FTX Linked Wallets Shift $13.5M SOL as Solana Rally Takes a Breather

Wallets linked to bankrupt crypto exchange FTX continue to move millions of dollars worth of Solana’s SOL as the token's near 150% monthly rally takes a pause.

On-chain analysis tool PeckShield flagged that some FTX-labeled addresses had transferred 250,000 SOL, worth just over $13.5 million at the time, and $4 million in USDT stablecoins to crypto exchange Binance and trading firm Wintermute.

These wallets are controlled by a debtor group that is in charge of handling the FTX bankruptcy proceedings, including its multi-billion dollar asset holdings. Moving to exchanges may likely indicate a sale of those tokens on the open market.

SOL prices are down 7.5% in the past 24 hours, CoinGecko data shows, underperforming an average of 0.6% in losses among cryptocurrencies tracked by the CoinDesk Market Index (CMI).

Tuesday’s transfer comes a week after the group moved over $30 million worth of SOL to Binance and Kraken, another crypto exchange. Prices tumbled 5% amid the movement but recovered and rallied afterward.

SOL has risen some 150% in the past month and over 500% year-to-date on the back of long-term optimism for its blockchain technology and popularity among crypto circles.

Some said that part of the surge may also be attributed to the debtor group staking over $120 million of SOL tokens in a surprise move in October – dampening fears of an impending sell-off as the tokens were effectively locked out of circulation.

But the debtor group has sent mixed messages about what it plans to do with its sizable stake, estimated at over $1 billion, which was acquired by the Sam Bankman-Fried led exchange from 2020 to 2022.

So far, the bankrupt crypto exchange’s estate has moved north of $100 million in SOL to exchanges in a series of transactions that has apparently stressed an impressive rally. Part of these holdings were obtained by unstaking some $67 million worth of SOL.