Solana (SOL), the most talked-about altcoin of 2022, made headlines in the crypto world today by briefly reaching $100 in the early hours. Just a month ago, SOL was trading below $50, but today it briefly saw $100 and surpassed XRP to become the 5th largest cryptocurrency. Following this rise in the altcoin, the on-chain data provider Spot On Chain issued an important reminder to investors.
FTX and Alameda Concerns Continue in Solana
Spot On Chain highlighted that between October 24 and December 14, 2023, FTX and Alameda transferred 13.22 million SOL, worth $666 million, to cryptocurrency exchanges. The data provider pointed out that 2 million of these SOLs, worth $192 million, might still be on the exchanges waiting to be sold.
On the other hand, FTX currently has 40.5 million SOL, valued at $4 billion, locked up. The unlocking of these SOLs will mostly occur linearly each month, mainly in 2025. This suggests a continuous selling pressure on the altcoin in the long term.
According to current data, SOL’s price has risen over 500% since the announcement of FTX’s bankruptcy on November 11, 2022. Considering the amount of SOL FTX holds, this increase represents unrealized gains of over $3 billion for the crypto exchange.
Current Status of SOL
SOL, which reached $100 for the first time since April 2022 in the early hours today, is currently trading at $92.2, up 7.01% in the last 24 hours. Market observers attribute the pullback in the altcoin to profit-taking.
Furthermore, along with SOL’s price, its market value has also significantly increased, allowing it to surpass XRP and take the 5th spot on the list of largest cryptocurrencies. It even briefly overtook Binance‘s BNB, rising to the 4th position for a short time.
