Solana (SOL), the altcoin that has been the talk of the crypto community, recently hit the $100 mark, a significant rise from its sub-$50 value just a month ago. This surge propelled SOL to overtake XRP, making it the fifth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. Spot On Chain, an on-chain data provider, issued a reminder to investors following this increase.
Spot On Chain highlighted that between October 24 and December 14, 2023, FTX and Alameda transferred a whopping $666 million worth of 13.22 million SOL to crypto exchanges. They pointed out that $192 million worth of these SOL tokens, amounting to 2 million units, might still be on exchanges for potential sale.
In addition, FTX currently has about $4 billion worth of SOL, totaling 40.5 million tokens, locked up. These tokens are scheduled to be released gradually each month, with most unlocking in 2025, suggesting a long-term selling pressure on the altcoin.
Since FTX’s bankruptcy announcement on November 11, 2022, SOL’s price has skyrocketed by over 500%. Given the amount of SOL that FTX holds, this increase could represent over $3 billion in unrealized gains for the collapsed exchange.
As of the writing of this article, SOL had recently seen its first $100 valuation since April 2022, and was trading at $92.2, reflecting a 7.01% increase over the last 24 hours. Market observers attribute this pullback to profit-taking activities.
Furthermore, SOL’s price surge has significantly increased its market value, allowing it to surpass XRP and momentarily even Binance’s BNB, climbing to the fourth position in the ranking of the largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.