Wintermute Withdraws 20M SOL from Binance Ahead of $2B FTX Token Unlock

Solana, currently ranked the sixth-largest cryptocurrency, is in the red, its price dropping more than 14% in the last 24 hours.

Solana (CRYPTO: SOL), the sixth-largest cryptocurrency, is trading lower by more than 14% over 24 hours as of Friday evening.

The declining prices follow large SOL transfers from Binance by Wintermute, a leading market maker.

These transfers come ahead of a $2 billion FTX token unlock, raising concerns about selling pressure as market sentiment worsens.

Wintermute Withdraws About 20 Million SOL In Tranches

According to Arkham Intelligence, Wintermute withdrew 20 million SOL, valued at over $3 million, from Binance in just 24 hours.

As a result, Wintermute addresses known to Arkham currently hold 171,000 SOL, equivalent to $26.47 million.

Wintermute transferred the 20 million SOL from Binance in different batches.

The largest withdrawal occurred in earlier trading hours, saw the firm remove 49,640 SOL from one of its wallets to a Binance hot wallet.

Other sizable withdrawals include 20,975 SOL, 13,374 SOL, 13,993 SOL, and 6,675 SOL.

The sell-off began at approximately 6:00 AM UTC and continued for several hours.

By the end of the trading session, Binance had executed sales worth more than $2 billion in SOL.

The latest transfers from Wintermute occurred days before Solana’s $2-billion token unlock, which is set for March 1.

This event will see over 11.2 million SOL tokens released into circulation.

Solana Buyback Began At A Huge Chunk Within 1 Hour

Within one hour of these transfers, Wintermute bought back a huge chunk of SOL from Binance, Coinbase, Kraken, and Bitvavo.

The market maker purchased about 86,000 SOL coins valued at approximately $12.9 million.

On the other hand, Wintermute purchased about 1,064 BTC, with the selling price at the time being approximately $94,680 per BTC.

The market maker added over $100 million to its Ethereum holdings.

Shortly after, Bitcoin’s price dropped by 0.5% with the market suspected of manipulating the price.

At the time of writing, BTC price was down 1.61% and is trading hands at $94,239.

What Do These Transactions And Solana (SOL) Price Reaction Mean?

The SOL transactions may indicate that these tokens are in high demand as major market makers like Wintermute are withdrawing.

They are likely removing liquidity or buying SOL from the order books. On the other hand, Binance’s willingness to part ways with these assets suggests the exchange is likely rebalancing its portfolio.

Binance is adjusting exposure to Solana, reducing risks associated with the asset.

The exchange may prepare to reallocate funds to more secure assets.

Several investors have interpreted the move as indicating that Binance expects upcoming market turbulence, which could influence liquidity and trading volumes for Solana and Bitcoin.

However, their actions might help prevent sharp drops during high-pressure periods or market manipulation.

Moreover, removing tokens worth millions of dollars from Binance could reduce liquidity, triggering further adjustments among other market participants.

Another factor adding to market concerns is the recent Libra (LIBRA) memecoin scandal, endorsed by Argentine President Javier Milei.

This has contributed to eroding trust in the Solana ecosystem. The alleged rug pull drained over $107 million in liquidity, wiping out $4 billion in investor capital.

While Wintermute shuffled billions of SOL coins between centralized marketplaces, the price of Solana, as mentioned, is highly volatile.

As of this writing, Solana (SOL) price was trading at $143.67, down 14.37% in the last 24 hours.