Solana Whale Moves $35M: 200,000 SOL Withdrawn from Kraken and Staked as JitoSOL
A prominent Solana (SOL) whale recently unstaked over 200,000 SOL tokens, valued around $35 million, after months of inactivity. Initially, this whale had accumulated substantial profits, with notable withdrawals from Binance and gains from staking rewards over the last 10 months. Most recently, a newly created whale wallet withdrew 200,000 SOL from Kraken and converted the entire amount to JitoSOL for staking purposes, reflecting a strong move out of centralized exchanges into liquid staking derivatives.
These large transactions signal ongoing confidence in the Solana ecosystem, as well as an interest in optimizing yield through DeFi and staking protocols like JitoSOL. While no entity has been directly linked to the wallet, the event underscores a trend of increased DeFi engagement among major market participants. Such significant unstaking and restaking activities can increase SOL market liquidity and lead to heightened trading volumes and short-term price volatility. Traders should closely monitor Solana for potential price movements resulting from these whale actions and the rising adoption of staking solutions.
Neutral
While the withdrawal and staking of over 200,000 SOL from Kraken into JitoSOL represents significant whale activity and a notable shift of assets from centralized exchanges into DeFi, the move is primarily for staking rather than immediate selling. There is no clear indication that the SOL is being prepared for liquidation, which would be bearish. Conversely, large-scale staking could be interpreted as bullish for long-term sentiment due to increased supply lock-up, but as liquid staking (JitoSOL) allows these assets to remain liquid in DeFi, this dampens a classic supply squeeze effect. Therefore, the immediate price impact is likely neutral, though traders should watch for short-term volatility due to increased attention and volumes.