Alameda withdraws $23 million in Solana to wallet linked to FTX

Alameda Research unlocked Solana tokens worth nearly $23 million today. While this is a notable event, it has almost no impact on the fundamental price or demand dynamics of SOL.

The FTX repayment process has begun, and the company has unlocked $1.57 billion worth of SOL. Alameda's smaller unlocking occurred against a backdrop of market factors driving down demand.

How will Alameda use its unstaked Solana tokens?

According to on-chain data from Arkham Intelligence, Alameda Research has distributed the unstaked SOL to 38 addresses affiliated with FTX. To recap, Alameda was the trading firm involved in the FTX collapse, led by Caroline Ellison.

"Alameda addresses just unlocked $23 million in SOL to 38 new addresses. An FTX/Alameda staking address received 22.9 million USD in SOL from an unlocking staking address and has just distributed this amount to 37 addresses that had previously received SOL from this address. These addresses now hold $178.82 million in SOL," Arkham stated on social media.

Since the collapse, Alameda has moved large amounts of assets multiple times. For example, Alameda's bankrupt addresses staked $10 million in MATIC tokens in late 2023 and moved $14.75 million in Ethereum in early 2024.

However, both of these events caused significant price volatility for the related assets.

The price of Solana, on the other hand, has remained largely unchanged since Alameda's transactions. Yesterday, the SEC delayed several Solana ETF applications, and this had a slight downward impact on the price of this altcoin.

However, ETH increased by 10% when Alameda moved a supply worth $14.75 million. Today, they have moved more SOL, but this has not even caused the biggest price volatility of the day.

Solana has seen both declines and gains over a short period, but all of this occurred before the announcement. In comparison, Alameda's unlocking has had almost no impact.

It is still unclear what Alameda plans to do with these unlocked Solana tokens. Last month, FTX began the first round of repayments to creditors, but this will be a lengthy process. Earlier this month, FTX also unlocked $1.57 billion worth of Solana tokens.

In other words, Alameda may be planning to use these tokens as part of the FTX repayment process, but that may not change the demand for Solana.

The cryptocurrency market is currently in a state of Extreme Fear, and most major assets are seeing significant outflows. Alameda's actions are just a drop in a very large bucket.