FTX and its affiliated firm Alameda Research have decided to unstake $24 million worth of Solana (SOL), a prominent layer-one blockchain. This move comes as FTX prepares to repay distressed investors in the upcoming quarter, with plans to expedite the sale of Solana to cover the necessary funds. Additionally, FTX has been ordered by a court to repay a credit of up to $16 billion, which it intends to facilitate in stablecoins. Despite the potential legal obstacles posed by the US SEC, FTX has already started receiving stablecoins. To avoid adversely affecting the market, FTX and Alameda are expected to offload their Solana assets through an over-the-counter (OTC) desk. Pantera Capital has previously expressed interest in raising funds from investors to purchase discounted Solana from FTX.
Recent on-chain data reveals that FTX and Alameda Research-associated addresses have unstaked 177,693 SOL units, equivalent to nearly $24 million. As a result, the total amount of SOL held by FTX and Alameda Research-associated addresses is now over 7 million SOL, worth more than $953 million. Despite this unstaking activity, the price of Solana seems unlikely to be significantly impacted, considering the strong demand for the altcoin among both retail and institutional investors. Solana has been experiencing a gradual recovery in line with Bitcoin (BTC) and has established a solid support level above $122. Currently, it has a fully diluted valuation of around $78 billion and a daily average traded volume of approximately $2.7 billion. During the early European session on Thursday, Solana’s price rose by nearly 3 percent to trade around $135.
The increasing institutional adoption of SOL was further evidenced by the recent approval of spot Solana ETFs in Brazil, marking a significant development in its institutional acceptance.