The first day after Jan. 20 did not start as planned for the cryptocurrency market. With no announcement of the Bitcoin Strategic Reserve, the only thunderous event was someone depositing almost a quarter of a billion dollars worth of Solana (SOL) tokens on the leading U.S. crypto exchange Coinbase.
As spotted by Whale Alert, there have been four such tranches of different sizes deposited directly to Coinbase in the last few hours. It all started with one worth 302,520 SOL, which is equivalent to $72.51 million, and ended, at least for now, with 214,835 SOL shifting there.
What's interesting is that all of the addresses sending tokens are different, though that does not indicate separate entities shifting the Solana token to Coinbase, as the nature of these transfers and timing is very similar.
In the common perception of crypto market participants, such transfers indicate the willingness of large holders to sell their tokens. Even if that were not true, the message itself can scare others into doing just that.
Red flag
If you want to be a total pessimist, you may conclude that a major whale decided to cash out their SOL in the midst of an all-time high for the price of the token and not a very clear situation on the cryptocurrency market right now.
Besides, Solana as a blockchain is currently home to many profitable apps, like pumpfun for example, and there are many people interested in cashing out the proceeds from the hype of the last cycle — not to forget the meme coin mania that took place mainly on Solana.
Meanwhile, the price of the altcoin is down almost 2% since the beginning of the new trading session. Maybe the potential sell-off has not happened yet, or maybe it will not happen at all. But over $250 million in Solana hitting Coinbase this morning was definitely not in the plans of many crypto enthusiasts.
Dan Burgin
U.Today Editorial Team
