The link between Solana (SOL) and the former crypto exchange platform FTX, was dictated a lot by the large investments made by Sam Bankman Fried during the bull market of 2020/2021.
After the advent of the bear market, but above all the collapse of one of the most important exchange platforms linked to the Solana blockchain, a debate has ignited regarding the future of the smart contract layer blockchain in Solana.
The Ethereum upgrades and the technological development of other blockchains like the XRPL that recently has introduce a native NFTs standard (XLS20) could make Solana obsolete. But the biggest concern for Solana’s future is his ties to former FTX CEO Sam Bankman Fried.
Coming back to November 6, 2021, Solana (SOL) reached its high of $258.78. It can be thought that Sam Bankman Fried, having been a great supporter of the blockchain, led, at least in part, the growth in the price of the token, intervening in the market and defending the blockchain platform on social media.
Taking a look at today’s figures, the situation for Solana seems very critical indeed. It seems that the blockchain token has been hit much more than the others, from its highest price of $258.78, SOL has dropped to just over $10. A much sharper drop than Bitcoin, Ethereum or XRP. In fact We are talking about a drop of about 96%.
Referring instead to the total value of tokens staked in Decentralized Finance (DeFi) protocols, the drop is even more drastic. Solana went from a high of $10.2 billion to a low of $210 million. Solana can currently be found in 12th place in the ranking of DeFi chains.
If you are wondering after which event Solana and its SOL token suffered a sharper decline, it is not surprising. After the collapse of FTX and the unmasking of Sam Bankman Fried the price of SOL received a sharp drop.
After filings made to the SEC by various Alameda executives, it is clear that Sam Bankman Fried was manipulating the prices of FTX’s FTT tokens. Therefore, it does not seem extremely unlikely that the founder of FTX was also manipulating the prices of Solana-based projects, using funds stolen from clients.