FTX Favorite Solana Dips After Frequent Mentions in Sam Bankman-Fried’s Trial

Once a favorite of collapsed digital assets exchange FTX, Solana (SOL) has dipped since ex-CEO of the crypto brand Sam Bankman-Fried started his criminal trial.

The eighth biggest cryptocurrency by market cap is one of the worst-performing top digital assets as of this writing. It’s right now priced at $21.19, currently down 3% in the past 24 hours and more than 7% in the past week, according to CoinGecko data.

SOL’s dip might at least be partially because of how frequently it’s been mentioned in alleged crypto crook Bankman-Fried’s trial. Today, Bankman-Fried’s lawyer Mark S. Cohen even spoke about his client’s enthusiasm for the asset.

SOL is the asset used to make transactions on Solana, a blockchain used by developers to build decentralized applications such as decentralized finance lending protocols.

It was also once an FTX favorite: Bankman-Fried was a prominent Solana supporter, the company launched a marketplace for Solana NFTs and FTX invested in numerous Solana-related projects.

Multiple cold storage FTX wallets still hold lots of the cryptocurrency. In fact, SOL was the asset that made up the largest part of the failed brand’s digital portfolio. A September court filing showed the company still holds $1.16 billion worth of SOL on its books, which accounts for more than one-third of the company’s $3.4 billion liquid digital assets.

The assets was even mentioned on the first day of Bankman-Fried’s trial.

The ex-boss of FTX is facing a number of criminal charges—including fraud—after his behemoth brand collapsed last year.

Prosecutors now allege he criminally mismanaged the company.

Bankman-Fried is now facing seven criminal charges and his trial is expected to last six weeks.