Benzinga – On Dec. 12, 2022, authorities arrested Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange, for financial misconduct connected to its collapse. His recent 25-year prison sentence in March 2024 revitalized the buzz.
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According to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice, Bankman-Fried faced fraud and conspiracy charges for misusing customer funds to cover risky investments and support his hedge fund, Alameda Research, expenses. This dramatic FTX-collapse saga instilled unprecedented fear in the crypto market, causing significant sell-offs — especially for Solana (SOL) holders.
But what if you challenged this status quo and bought the dip? Let’s delve into what your investment would look like now if you put $1,000 In SOL when Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested.
SOL was already struggling before the FTX ordeal, but its collapse still catalyzed the largest weekly drop (by percentage) in SOL history. SOL opened at $32.61 and closed 59.6% lower at $13.18 during the first week of November 2022. This downtrend continued until SOL bottomed out around $8, two weeks after Bankman-Fried’s arrest.
Solana stabilized throughout 2023 despite this setback and began recovering along with other large-cap tokens like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). SOL made a notable comeback by the end of 2023 — trading at over $125 per token. The next surge occurred in February 2024, with SOL soaring to $210 by March 2024. A resurgence in positive market sentiment and SOL’s robust technological infrastructure were among several factors that supported its recovery.
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When Bankman-Fried went into custody, SOL was trading at approximately $13 per token, down over 95% from its peak bull-run price of $260 in November 2021. This was the lowest SOL had been since March 2021 — over a year and a half. If you purchased $1,000 worth of SOL at $12 per token, you would have received 76.9 SOL. At today’s price of $136 per SOL, 76.9 SOL is worth over $10,000. That represents an increase of over 1000% in less than two years.
What lessons can we take from this and apply to other crypto investments? This highlights the importance of maintaining resilience during volatile market periods. The initial panic following Bankman-Fried’s arrest led many people to sell their holdings at a loss. In this scenario, those who maintained conviction despite the plummeting market missed out on the prosperity that followed. Also, this showcases how projects with strong fundamentals can rebound with an exponential recovery — even after seemingly irrecoverable market disruptions.
Ultimately, purchasing Solana on the day of Bankman-Fried’s arrest could have been a profitable investment. This demonstrates the potential of buying during extreme fear and selling during market greed. Like all investments, this strategy is not foolproof and can have substantial downside. Investors must remain vigilant and understand the significant financial losses that can occur during dramatic volatility.
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