Solana Hits 14-Month Peak; FTX Releases $67M Tokens, Sells Loom

FTX-affiliated wallets have recently taken actions to unstake and transfer a significant volume of tokens to exchanges, potentially exerting selling pressure on the asset, as pointed out by an observer. Despite hitting a 14-month high, Solana (SOL) could face downward pressure in the market due to FTX's release of an additional $65 million worth of tokens. This move comes after a substantial amount of SOL was shifted to cryptocurrency exchanges in recent days.

In the last 48 hours, the seventh-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization saw a notable surge of 17%, reaching $46. This marked its highest point since August 2022, although it later saw a partial retracement. This performance stood out in contrast to the predominantly range-bound crypto market, as indicated by the 0.6% increase in the TradingView over the same period.

Solana's resurgence as one of the year's best-performing assets, with an impressive nearly 350% surge, has caught many observers off guard. This bullish trend has defied concerns about its future following the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX crypto exchange and Alameda Research, which were significant investors in the Solana ecosystem.

Analysts attribute the price recovery to a combination of increased activity on the Solana blockchain, a substantial influx into digital asset funds focused on SOL, and a recent technological upgrade. At the same time, concerns about the FTX estate, currently under bankruptcy protection, conducting a mass sell-off of tokens have thus far been proven to be overstated.

However, the recent uptick in activity within FTX-owned crypto wallets over the past few days suggests that some selling pressure may emerge in the market in the near future. According to a report from digital asset manager 21Shares, the FTX-Alameda bankruptcy estate has recently moved $35 million worth of SOL tokens to exchanges, potentially signaling an intention to sell.

Blockchain data further reveals that a wallet associated with FTX unstaked an additional 1.6 million tokens, valued at approximately $67 million, on Wednesday afternoon, indicating that more tokens may be on the move. Analysts from 21Shares noted, 

"This might exert some selling pressure in the coming weeks."

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