FTX to Auction Off Remaining Solana (SOL) Tokens: Report

Bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX is looking to offload its remaining Solana native tokens, SOL, via an auction this week.

According to a Bloomberg report, people familiar with the matter said the bankruptcy estate would auction an unspecified amount of SOL in the hopes of receiving a higher price than that which they would have gotten through direct sales.

FTX to Sell SOL Via Auction

The blond auction represents a shift from the fixed-price sales the bankruptcy estate has engaged in over time. Notably, most creditors have expressed dissatisfaction with the direct sales approach as it undermines the value of the FTX’s assets, minimizing creditors’ potential recovery.

Since FTX began offloading its SOL via direct sales, it has attracted the interest of major crypto firms like Pantera Capital, Neptune Digital Assets Corp, and Galaxy Trading, a division of Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital.

Last month, the bankruptcy estate sold between 25 million and 30 million locked-up SOL at $64 each, netting as much as $1.9 billion. Although the deal seemed juicy enough, the buyers acquired FTX’s SOL at a price 67% down from the token’s value at the time. While FTX is yet to disclose its SOL sales for April, previous reports show the asset has sold tokens worth roughly $2.6 billion.

Unidentified sources revealed that the deadline for the auction is Wednesday, April 24, with the results to be announced on Thursday.

Figure Markets Declares Interest

One of the firms that has publicly declared interest in the FTX SOL blind auction is the crypto exchange Figure Markets. The company’s co-founder and CEO, Mike Cagney, disclosed that the firm would create a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) open to non-U.S. and U.S. investors for the auctions.

The SPV will take investments in the U.S. dollar and Circle (USDC), with community consensus on bid prices to be determined on a $1:1 vote basis. The vehicle also allows retail investors and FTX creditors to participate in the auction with a minimum investment of $5,000, starkly contrasting the $5 million set by the estate for direct sales.

FTX creditor activist Sunil Kavuri commended Cagney’s approach to the auction, insisting that Sullivan & Cromwell, the law firm overseeing FTX’s bankruptcy proceedings, was adamant on selling the locked SOL at a heavy discount to their clients, regardless of objections from creditors.