The bankruptcy estate of collapsed crypto exchange FTX recently staked over 5.5 million Solana (SOL) tokens worth more than $122 million, signaling a bullish outlook on the blockchain network’s native cryptocurrency.
According to on-chain data, an identified FTX wallet transferred the 5,564,035 SOL to staking service provider Figment on October 13th. The large transaction was initially detected by blockchain tracker Whale Alert before being attributed to the FTX estate by pseudonymous researcher Ashpool.
Staking involves locking up coins to help secure a blockchain network in exchange for rewards. For those staking SOL tokens, rewards are paid out in additional SOL. By staking its holdings, FTX is positioned to accumulate more SOL over time through staking rewards.
The decision to stake such a large position in SOL comes as little surprise given FTX’s long history with Solana. The collapsed exchange was one of the earliest institutional backers of Solana, investing in the network before it launched in 2020.
As an early backer, FTX receives a significant amount of SOL each month through a vesting schedule. The unlocked tokens represent FTX’s prior investments in Solana. Rather than immediately selling these tokens, FTX has chosen to stake its latest batch, suggesting optimism about SOL’s price trajectory.
The FTX estate is currently overseen by a bankruptcy trustee, whose primary role involves recovering and liquidating assets to repay creditors. In September, a bankruptcy court approved the sale of $1.3 billion worth of SOL holdings to fund creditor repayments.
To minimize downward pressure on SOL prices from the sell-off, the court mandated the SOL be sold slowly in batches by an investment firm. Despite the ongoing liquidation of some holdings, the recent staking of 5.5 million SOL indicates the FTX estate is not racing to dump its remaining tokens.
Overall, FTX still holds approximately $3.4 billion worth of top digital assets, including SOL, Bitcoin, Ether and others. According to court filings from September, the FTX estate has recovered over $7 billion in assets since the exchange declared bankruptcy last November 11th.
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