The price of Solana, a cryptocurrency that was once hyped by former FTX chief executive Sam Bankman-Fried, tumbled on Wednesday according to CoinDesk data, amid concerns that the crypto’s largest holders will sell it.
In the summer of 2021, when Solana Labs raised $314.2 million from prominent investors like Andreessen Horowitz, Alameda Research, a crypto hedge fund founded by Bankman-Fried, invested heavily into the project. Bankman-Fried also created a decentralized ecosystem called “Serum” on Solana.
But after FTX declared bankruptcy in November, traders sold off their Solana, and the price dropped 65% from around $37 to less than $12. It’s currently 94.09% below its high from a year ago.
Multiple projects on Solana, including NFT marketplace Magic Eden, and NFT project DeGods, recently shared plans to transition off Solana to Ethereum.
Co-founder of Solana Anatoly Yakovenko said the move has been “bittersweet to watch,” in a thread on Twitter. “What @solana needs is twenty more unicorns that are so ambitious that @solana can’t contain them,” he continued.
Solana did not immediately respond to a request for comment from MarketWatch.
U.S. stocks finished sharply lower on Wednesday, as investors assessed economic data on the housing market amid concerns over rising interest rates and economic growth in 2023.
Anushree Dave is a Crypto Reporter for MarketWatch.
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