The FTX Estate has demonstrated its bullish outlook on Solana (SOL) by staking an impressive 5.5 million SOL tokens, valued at a substantial $122 million, on October 13th. The transaction, orchestrated by an FTX-identified wallet, involved sending these tokens to Figment, a reputable staking validator firm catering to institutional investors.
This significant staking endeavor was promptly detected by blockchain tracker Whale Alert and further confirmed by the pseudonymous on-chain researcher Ashpool, who identified it as an FTX Estate address.
Staking, a process where a specific amount of coins is locked up for a predetermined period, enables stakers to earn SOL coin rewards while contributing to the security of the network. FTX, having been an early investor in Solana, consistently receives substantial volumes of unlocked SOL tokens as per their established vesting schedule.
Notably, the FTX Estate, overseen by a bankruptcy trustee, retains the flexibility to liquidate these holdings at any given time. Their primary responsibility lies in the recovery of assets for the exchange’s creditors.
It’s worth mentioning that a U.S. court approved the sale of $1.3 billion in SOL tokens from FTX in September, which initially caused concerns of a price decline. To alleviate any potential market burdens, the bankruptcy court mandated that the sale occur in weekly batches through an investment advisor. This decision temporarily pushed SOL’s price to a two-month low of $17.34 on September 11th.
With approximately $3.4 billion in Digital Assets A, which includes prominent assets like Solana, Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and others, FTX has made significant strides towards asset recovery since filing for bankruptcy protection in November 2022.
In an unrelated development, Sam Bankman-Fried, the co-founder of FTX, currently faces a trial in a Manhattan district court, where he stands accused of fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud, potentially facing a sentence of up to 115 years if found guilty.
