Whales Are Buying Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX Token (FTT)

Over the past month, FTX Token (FTT) has soared over 230% to $4.30.

On the surface, the price increase may not make sense. Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested in early 2023 on a slew of fraud and money laundering charges. FTX became insolvent and closed its doors. With this in mind, the FTX Token should be worthless. But the price has rebounded, and people are buying it again.

A post on X by Santiment, a crypto research and market analytics company, said that “a second rally for #FTX’s native token coming after yesterday’s #Binance news. Its price appears to have been boosted by the 10-largest wallets accumulating $12.8 million worth of coins in 19 days.”

Large buyers and holders of tokens are usually referred to as whales because they hold a significant portion of the tokens and can have a large impact on their price. This is a prime example of whales influencing prices. With nearly $13 million of FTT bought in 19 days, the price was bound to move significantly.

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According to CoinMarketCap, whales hold more than 90% of the total supply of FTT. For comparison, Bitcoin whales make up less than 2% of holdings, and Ethereum whales make up around 25% of the supply. The amount of control whales have over FTT is immense, so any move they make is even more likely to impact the markets.

While there are a host of reasons the whales may be moving, the main driver that many are accepting is the recent regulatory rulings against FTX competitor Binance. Earlier this month, Binance was fined $4.3 billion in an unprecedented ruling. Former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) stepped down after the ruling, and many questioned the future of the crypto exchange giant. Though Binance continues to operate, the ruling was a slap in the face. It may have pushed some whales to continue buying FTT.

Another possible explanation for the spike in FTT’s price is the potential for FTX 2.0, which is supposed to be a reboot of the original exchange. While there is no definitive answer to whether or not FTX 2.0 will materialize, there is some notable activity in FTX and Alameda Research wallets. In a post on X, Spot On Chain noted that there were more than $36 million in deposits to the two wallets last week. This reshuffling may have caused some buying of FTT, resulting in the price increases.

If nothing else, this is a prime example of how impactful whales can be on the price of certain tokens. With the future of FTX largely unknown, this is something to keep an eye on.

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