Key Insights
Large investors have moved over $40 million in Solana to exchanges in recent days.
Alameda Research has unstaked $35 million worth of Solana after nearly five years.
Positive adoption news has not yet boosted Solana’s price, which is still 40% below its all-time high.
Solana is under selling pressure, especially as the whales have been moving large amounts of $SOL to exchanges. Blockchain data shows that in just a few hours, three wallets transferred more than 226,000 SOL, worth about $40 million.
The transactions were tracked by Lookonchain. One wallet, CMJiHu, deposited 96,996 SOL worth $17.45 million to an exchange. Another, 5PjMxa, sent 91,890 SOL valued at $15.98 million to Kraken. A third, HiN7sS, moved 37,658 SOL worth $6.73 million to Binance and took in a profit of $1.63 million.
This trend is not new. Over the weekend, Galaxy Digital moved 224,000 SOL worth $41.12 million to Binance and Coinbase. Just last week, the firm also unstaked 250,000 SOL valued at $40.7 million and sent it to Binance. Other whale addresses have been reducing their Solana positions as well.
Solana’s recent price action has disappointed many investors. According to CoinMarketCap, SOL is still about 40% below its record high. In contrast, Ethereum has rallied sharply, reaching price levels last seen in 2021.
Solana is currently underperforming | CoinMarketCap
Over the past 24 hours, Solana has fallen by about 5% and is trading at $175.64 at the time of reporting.
The lack of traction is particularly evident in the REX Osprey Solana exchange-traded fund as well. Data from Farside Investors shows the ETF recorded zero net flows for most of August, with only a single day of positive inflows.
Adding to the recent market moves, Alameda Research has unstaked 190,821 SOL worth about $35.5 million, according to Arkham Intelligence. These tokens were first staked in late 2020 when they were valued at just $351,960.
This stands as nearly a 100-fold increase in value over less than five years.
The timing is interesting because only a week earlier, wallets linked to Alameda and FTX staked $125 million worth of crypto, including $45 million in Solana and $80 million in Ethereum. The decision to now withdraw a large portion of SOL may show that its priorities are changing.
The move also comes ahead of an important date. Creditors of the collapsed FTX exchange are set to receive the next round of repayments on September 30. The deadline to submit claims for that round is August 15, and Alameda’s unstaking could be part of preparations to distribute funds to creditors.
FTX collapsed in November 2022 after it was revealed that customer funds had been misused for risky trading strategies. After the conviction of founder Sam Bankman-Fried last year, new management has been liquidating assets to repay creditors.
So far, around $6.2 billion has been returned and final repayments could reach between $14.7 billion and $16.5 billion, depending on crypto prices.
Some industry speculators argue that Alameda’s SOL should remain staked to generate yield, rather than being liquidated immediately. However, the need to meet legal obligations and payment deadlines appears to be a determining factor in the decision.
Despite the heavy selling, Solana has seen several positive announcements. Regulated exchange OSL HK has confirmed it will offer retail trading for Solana. This makes it the first exchange in Hong Kong to provide such access.
Another sign of mainstream acceptance involves Jeff Bezos’ aerospace company Blue Origin now accepting SOL as payment for spaceflight bookings.
Customers can also pay in Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether and USDC. The move shows a rising view that crypto can be used for high-value purchases.
The Solana network itself has seen growth in activity. Data shows that the graduation rate of meme tokens on the network has now broken above 3%, which indicates an increase in developer engagement.
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