Solana Whales Dump SOL Amid Major Token Unlock

“Many whales unstaked and dumped SOL today,” reported blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain on April 4.

It highlighted four transactions of over $3 million worth of the Solana native token, the largest of which was a whopping 258,646 SOL worth around $30 million.

The Solana selloff has been a result of the meme coin bubble bursting as the asset has dumped by 60% in just over two months.

https://twitter.com/lookonchain/status/1907989751254356268?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw” data-wpel-link=”external” target=”_blank

Major Solana Unlock

There was also around $200 million worth of Solana being unlocked on April 4, which is adding to the selling pressure. Arkham Intelligence said it “marks the largest single-day unlock of staked SOL until 2028.”

CoinNess Global reported that 425,266 SOL, valued at $50 million, was unlocked, and 284,147 SOL, worth $33 million, had been transferred to the exchanges Binance, Kraken, and Coinbase.

Solana token unlocks refer to events when previously locked SOL becomes available for trading, often due to vesting schedules or liquidation processes. The most recent significant unlock occurred in March when 11.2 million tokens worth $1.3 billion were released from the FTX bankruptcy estate.

https://twitter.com/arkham/status/1907906539018719529?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw” data-wpel-link=”external” target=”_blank

Token unlocks are generally bearish in the short term because they increase the circulating supply, which is currently 514 million for Solana.

Fintech firm Ripple also unlocked $1 billion worth of its XRP token this week, adding to selling pressure as the asset dipped below $2 on April 3.

Other recent major token unlocks include Sui, and its price has tanked almost 10% today.

SOL Price Tanks

SOL prices have declined by over 4% on the day, which is a larger loss than the wider market. The asset fell to $112 in an intraday low before recovering to trade around $118 at the time of writing.

SOL has tanked by more than 16% over the past week, while the wider crypto market has only declined by 6.5%. This suggests that SOL is being dumped at a much faster rate than Bitcoin and other altcoins.

The Solana blockchain is primarily used for memecoin minting and trading, and now that this bubble has burst, activity and network revenue for the ecosystem have slumped. This has resulted in SOL prices crashing to their lowest levels in over a year.