PANews reported on February 28 that according to Cointelegraph, Binance denied speculation that it was dumping some of its assets, despite widespread claims on social media during the recent market decline. Binance refuted these claims, saying they stemmed from a misunderstanding of its role as an exchange. A Binance spokesperson said: "Binance did not 'dump' or 'sell' a large number of tokens as some tweets mistakenly claimed. They misunderstood Binance's function as an exchange, and we just help users match transactions." Part of the speculation stems from market makers extracting a large amount of Solana (SOL) data from Binance's hot wallet, leading cryptocurrency investors to mistakenly believe that this was an exchange dumping its assets.
Arkham Intelligence data shows that market maker Wintermute withdrew more than $38.2 million worth of Solana from Binance in the 24 hours before 9:02 a.m. UTC on February 24. These transfers occurred before Solana plans to unlock $2 billion worth of tokens on March 1, when more than 11.2 million SOL tokens will enter circulation. A Binance spokesperson explained that similar market makers operate according to their own strategies and have nothing to do with the exchange. The spokesperson added: "We have no way of understanding user decisions, including the behavior of market makers transferring assets based on their own strategies. Therefore, while blockchain transparency is one of the greatest advantages of cryptocurrency, it is important not to jump to conclusions based on transaction screenshots alone." The spokesperson also stated: "We always encourage users to do their own research, and we also hope that the community will learn more about the role of exchanges and the functions of market makers."
Still, industry observers have expressed concerns about the potential selling pressure from Solana’s upcoming token unlock. Crypto analyst Artchick.eth noted that more than 15 million SOLs (worth about $2.5 billion) will enter circulation in the next three months. Many of these tokens were purchased at $64 each in FTX auctions by companies such as Galaxy Digital, Pantera Capital, and Figure. Similarly, crypto trader RunnerXBT mentioned that it is a “dangerous” time to buy Solana, and emphasized that Galaxy Digital, Pantera, and Figure will receive $3 billion, $1 billion, and $150 million in unrealized profits, respectively, after their SOL unlocks.
