As a researcher with a background in finance and experience in the cryptocurrency market, I find the recent developments surrounding FTX’s sale of discounted Solana tokens to be intriguing. The auction results, which saw Figure and Pantera Capital among the buyers, have raised eyebrows given the significant markdowns paid for the SOL tokens compared to their current market price.


As an analyst, I can share that FTX, the bankrupt crypto exchange, has successfully sold approximately $2.6 billion worth of discounted Solana tokens (SOL). Notable buyers included Figure Markets and Pantera Capital, who were among the final bidders in the weeks-long auction process to acquire these SOL tokens from FTX.

Based on information from unnamed sources reported by Bloomberg, I can share that Figure purchased around 800,000 coins for roughly $80 million in the recent auction.

Deep Discounts in FTX’s Solana Tokens

One source reported that Figure is believed to have paid around $102 for each token in the auction, which is noticeably lower than Solana’s current market value of approximately $166. Figure’s CEO and co-founder, Mike Cagney, previously announced plans to create a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), enabling both US and non-US investors to take part in the token auctions.

According to two anonymous sources, Pantera Capital joined the latest bidding process, yet the exact sum the venture capital firm invested remains undisclosed.

The trading of Solana tokens has caused debate during the insolvency process of FTX, a failed cryptocurrency exchange previously headed by Sam Bankman-Fried, who is now a convicted fraudster and is also known as SBF.

In March of this year, Pantera intended to procure $250 million worth of Solana tokens from FTX via investment. By April, Pantera had triumphantly emerged as the high bidder and obtained a portion of discounted Solana tokens.

In addition to Pantera, other significant cryptocurrency companies like Neptune Digital Assets Corp and Galaxy Trading have expressed strong intentions towards purchasing Solana tokens that FTX has been disposing of since the bankruptcy proceedings commenced. FTX started these direct sales as a method for getting rid of its SOL token holdings.

FTX Users Lose Big

In the fall of FTX, numerous cryptocurrency investors suffered significant losses, potentially even losing their entire life savings. However, the crypto market bounced back impressively from the 2022 downturn. The leading digital currency, Bitcoin, reached new all-time highs as part of this recovery.

Two individuals, who had deposited their funds with FTX prior to its bankruptcy, believe that their assets would have been worth at least $4 million if they hadn’t been frozen, as per their own calculations.

FTX claims it can gather enough funds to repay creditors 100% of what they are owed, plus interest.

Instead of recovering their cryptocurrencies, creditors will receive US dollars equivalent to their account balances as of FTX’s November 2022 failure. Given Bitcoin’s price surge, approximately quadrupling since then, creditors have missed out on the most significant crypto market rally since the pandemic.

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2024-05-25 07:20