Solana cofounders Anatoly Yakovenko and Raj Gokal scramble to move past FTX's stain on their token, down 96% from November 2021; FTX and Alameda bought 58M+ SOL

Solana, the blockchain network once championed by Sam Bankman-Fried, is drawing immense scrutiny as industry watchers wonder whether …

Bloomberg 2022-12-29 Hannah Miller

Context & Ripple Effects

Solana spent 2022 building a reputation problem on two fronts: repeated network instability that DeFi traders flagged in another weekend outage, and then a dependence on Sam Bankman-Fried, whose FTX and Alameda arms accumulated more than 58 million SOL tokens. When FTX imploded in November, the association turned toxic almost overnight — Solana crashed more than 40% in the broad selloff as investors feared contagion from Alameda's collapse.

First-order effects

Yakovenko and Gokal are now running damage control on the token itself: SOL sits roughly 96% below its November 2021 peak, and just days earlier it fell about 10% to around $10 on fears that large holders — including the bankrupt FTX estate — could dump their positions.

Second-order effects

The overhang is structural, not just sentiment: any recovery attempt must price in the risk that FTX and Alameda's 58M+ SOL becomes liquidation inventory, which caps bids and pushes developers and validators to weigh whether the chain's ecosystem can fund itself without its former patron.

Third-order effects

The episode is a test case for whether a blockchain can decouple from its most famous backer — if Solana rebuilds on technical merit despite the FTX stain, other chains tied to collapsed lenders and exchanges will face the same forced separation of protocol value from sponsor credibility.

The trend: Crypto projects are being forced to prove legitimacy independent of their exchange-era patrons, as the collapse of FTX-linked holdings turns sponsorship into liability.

Discussion

@rajgokal Raj on x
past couple years, solana's otherwise passionate community was infected mercenaries and grifters. like a bad virus, they needed to be killed. fevers are painful, but you're glad when they break quickly. every bad actor washing out of this ecosystem makes it more decentralized.
@wublockchain Wu Blockchain on x
Matrixport, the asset management platform founded by Jihan Wu, announced that it will delist SOL and SOL-U dual-currency investment products on December 30, and will not launch new Solana products in the future.
@alexandergerko Alex Gerko on x
the stain on their token: https://www.bloomberg.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@poordart @poordart on x
BREAKING: Solana maxis turning away from chain as they can no longer afford the glue they were sniffing that made the Solana maxis
@xmaximist Mando Ct on x
For everyone that sold #ETH in 2018 for 88 USD and for everyone who is selling $SOL sub 10 USD! Fundamentals haven't changed and Solana isn't FTX! Just sayin! 🫡 https://twitter.com/...
@whalecointalk @whalecointalk on x
Do you remember the historic dump of $ETH in late 2018? $SOL is following a similar pattern right now! Do you think #Solana will ever recover & reclaim its crown, the #Ethereum killer? 👀 https://twitter.com/...
@degenping DeGen Ping on x
Lmao, guy literally partied with all these said mercenaries and grifters, enjoyed their gifts and hospitality and then comes out and says this. https://twitter.com/...
@johnreedstark John Reed Stark on x
Looks like SOL holders are SOL. Solana's crypto token, SOL, has plummeted 96% from its all-time high of $260 in November 2021 to about $10. SOL dropped as much as 12% yesterday on concern large holders are offloading the token. https://www.coindesk.com/...
@finestonematt @finestonematt on x
Sam was always a swindler & charlatan, misrepresenting important (technical) details. Below is from 2.5 years ago, L2 vs Solana days. He turned me off to anything he touched by these interactions. I have respect for the ppl on CT who shouted longer & louder warnings about him. ht…
@redacted_noah Noah on x
Lot of people shitting on projects (including Solana) that took investment from Alameda. Stop. Fact is, nobody knew what FTX was doing. Everyone thought they were legit. Probably most of these projects were hoping that Alameda could help them get their token listed on FTX and mm
@mayazi Maya Parody on x
Everyone's blaming Sol price action on FTX, but tbh Solana had a trifecta of benefactors that each imploded in the second half of '22 - FTX, 3AC & Multicoin. If anything it demonstrates of “ecosystem” stakeholders that are too aligned & correlated in their risk exposure
@aeyakovenko @aeyakovenko on x
Does incorrect information that is spread and refuted within 48 hours have negative impact
@goldhaxx @goldhaxx on x
.@theblock__'s annual report indicates that @FTX_official's large portfolio allocation in the Solana ecosystem is only part of the picture. All 9 of the next top VC firms in 2022 invested in #Solana projects. Including FTX/Alameda AVG: 25% MEDIAN: 18% w/out FTX/Alameda 23% 17%
@219_eth @219_eth on x
Fake FTX money was the reason anything was successful on sol. Sol might survive, but its gonna have a full washout and most of the projects are gonna die first. You would have to pay me ~5 million dollars to stay on sol with a project that had any level of activity https://twitte…
@0x_osprey @0x_osprey on x
Preliminary analysis for cost to double the daily active addresses, for an entire year, as a % of total network supply: Ethereum: 0.097% (~$139M) Polygon PoS: 0.0048% (~$372k) Solana: 0.000530% ($18.9k) Will double check tomorrow w/ assumptions if anyone is interested https://twi…
@coindesk @coindesk on x
In a best case scenario, Solana's remaining builders face a long road back to ecosystem health, trust and relevance following the collapse of the network's most prominent backer, Sam Bankman-Fried, CoinDesk's @DavidZMorris writes. Opinion. https://www.coindesk.com/...
@notbunjil @notbunjil on x
LILY is about to crank out some stuff that I'm pretty sure you can only do on Solana Should be fun
@armaniferrante @armaniferrante on x
Solana is forging its soul right now in the depths of hell. The heat burns. The steel sharp. But when it rises, it will rise with a community so fierce, so strong that nothing will stop it. https://twitter.com/...
@tmnxeq @tmnxeq on x
wasn't raj's main job to bring in these mercenaries? what is he even doing nowadays his twitter is mainly retweets and this odd statement https://twitter.com/...
@hsakatrades @hsakatrades on x
From “Solanas Jordan” to virus inducing mercenary grifter. Have his tokens fully vested? https://twitter.com/...
@ldrogen Leigh Drogen on x
I don't understand the fealty to SOL to the point you guys are willing to ride it to zero There's nothing remotely interesting enough about the core tech to justify that level of ride or die And now the ecosystem flywheel is shot with Alameda gone Just....why?
@aeyakovenko @aeyakovenko on x
@LDrogen @crispheaney I don't think that's an intellectually honest statement given that solana handles more transactions from users and dapps per day (not counting votes) than eth and all the eth L2s and side chains combined even when including bsc.
@moonoverlord @moonoverlord on x
Comparing EOS to SOL is a dead giveaway you have no idea what you're doing If sol doesn't work out, it doesn't work out but it has 100x the adoption eos did founders of SOL have been nonstop building for years founder of EOS exit scammed the project AND RAN FOR PRESIDENT 😭😂
@alancarroii Alan Carroll on x
Teacher: “Okay class, today we're going to learn about Polygons” Solana maxis: https://twitter.com/...
@nostradumbass23 Nagato on x
Would have credibility if you had come out and said this when vc were pumping your ghost chain with fake tvl and what not I guess you didn't wanna incur wrath of vcs who you sold your SOuL to innit Now they dusted or going you wanna play victim card lmeow I wish best for sol http…
@ottorothmund @ottorothmund on x
Owning solana is lowkey goated when living under a bridge is the vibe
@stepdatainsight @stepdatainsight on x
Daily Active Addresses Ethereum: 398.8k Solana: 358.3k Polygon: 336.8k Facts > Emotions > Price Action https://twitter.com/...
@akshaybd Akshay BD on x
The Solana ecosystem scales not by increasing headcount at the foundation or via centralized backers. It is by 100s of self organized communities — like @SuperteamDAO, @LamportDAO, @SolMeetDevs, @MetacampDAO @GrapeAthensDAO & many others. You can expect this to 10x in 2023
@nitro_labs @nitro_labs on x
Our conviction in the #Solana ecosystem gets stronger by the day ☀️ All SVM developers, community members, #DeFi protocols and NFT projects alike have the support of the Nitro community. 2023 will be the year of SVM 🏁💚
@songadaymann @songadaymann on x
This seems right to me. I wasn't around in 2016, but is the FTX fiasco similar for sol as the DAO hack was for eth? Eth survived because people cared, were building on it, and believed in the underlying ideas. It does seem like sol has that same underlying support. https://twitte…
@aeyakovenko @aeyakovenko on x
@ShiLLin_ViLLian Sol is also for defi. It's gonna be a rebuild year.
@solbigbrain S◎L Big Brain on x
Sub $10 SOL. Feeling the pain, but smelling opportunity. Still being patient on heavy capital deployment currently. BUT If any fund is sitting on locked SOL till 2025, needs liquidity and looking to sell at a discount to spot, hit me up. We are buying. 💰💵

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