FTX Unstakes $31M in Solana Amid Mounting Pressure from Chinese Creditor Claims

FTX makes a $31 million Solana power move—just as Chinese creditors come knocking. Liquidations or strategic play? The market's watching.

Pressure mounts as claims stack up. Is this a fire sale or a calculated exit? Either way, Solana bulls aren't blinking—yet.

Another day, another crypto giant shuffles assets while lawyers circle. Some things never change in decentralized finance's theater of the absurd.

FTX Unlocking Nearly 190,000 SOL Tokens Sparks Solana Price Jitters

According to Lookonchain, the transaction occurred just hours ago. It involved 189,851 SOL, worth $30.94 million at the time.

FTX/Alameda unstaked 189,851 $SOL($30.94M) an hour ago.https://t.co/dT34eyurd8 pic.twitter.com/5SLLvJcUZS

While FTX has regularly unstaked and shifted SOL to wallets linked to the defunct exchange in recent months, the timing of this latest MOVE is concerning.

It comes amid renewed institutional interest and price momentum, with Bitcoin (BTC) testing new all-time highs (ATH). Meanwhile, analysts anticipate a potential altcoin season, with ethereum reclaiming the $3,000 psychological level.

These milestones have amplified speculation about the potential market impact of FTX unstaking such a large volume of solana tokens.

“Sending it into the market can bring more uncertainty for SOL,” one X (Twitter) user commented.

FTX could send the tokens to creditor wallets as part of the customer reimbursement scheme. The supply shock could influence the Solana price.

This could happen if the recipients cash in to capitalize on the ongoing crypto market rally.

Meanwhile, the move also ties directly into FTX’s ongoing bankruptcy case as it pushes to make creditors whole. The defunct exchange is in the process of distributing roughly $5 billion in assets to creditors. However, the latest controversy revolves around the geographic breakdown of those claims.

“Today, certain creditors of the FTX Recovery Trust reside in jurisdictions that continue to have laws and regulations that restrict cryptocurrency transactions. The collection of potentially applicable non-US laws and regulations is daunting,” FTX stated recently.

BeInCrypto reported that FTX proposed freezing claims from 49 countries, citing local crypto laws. Although these countries account for only 5% of all claims, China makes up 82% of that group, raising legal and logistical concerns.

Mainland China banned crypto trading and exchanges in 2021, but Chinese residents can still hold and receive USD abroad.

“There’s more than 1000 users I’ve seen in WeChat groups that got hurt heavily in the FTX scam. If victims in restricted regions unite, it WOULD force FTX to take the most serious consequences and pay for this fraud,” one affected user lamented.

That pressure could influence how and when FTX liquidates assets like Solana to raise capital for repayments. This is especially true if certain groups demand equitable treatment.

For now, analysts remain divided on the impact. On one hand, the $31 million release is modest compared to previous FTX-related movements, such as a $236 million SOL unlock earlier this year that triggered a temporary price dip.