Bullish Bitcoin Event Coming | FTX’s Solana Sale

U.S. regulator could try to gum up failed exchange’s bankruptcy plan.

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Nina Bambysheva Senior Reporter, Forbes Money & Markets
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Steven Ehrlich Director, Forbes Digital Assets
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BITCOIN HALVING DRAWS NEAR

Every four years, bitcoin undergoes the process known as halving, whereby the rewards for mining the cryptocurrency get cut in two to reduce the number of new coins entering the network. Prior halvings have coincided with bull runs, which often started a few months before a halving and continued for some months afterward.

With the next halving expected in April—when the block subsidy will drop to 3.125 bitcoin from 6.25—investors are contemplating how to position their portfolios to maximize gains from the potential price surge as supply is throttled. Here’s what you need to know.

FTX WANTS TO SELL $100 MILLION OF CRYPTO PER WEEK, WILL THE SEC STOP IT?

With cryptocurrency markets rising, the exchange is preparing to sell billions of digital assets held in its coffers. There is one potential roadblock, and it is a big one. The Securities and Exchange Commission is not fond of cryptocurrency trading as it is currently practiced in the United States.

The agency has already intervened in one bankruptcy case, objecting to the Voyager Digital brokerage’s plan in March to sell crypto on Binance’s U.S. subsidiary, and even though the judge in that case disagreed, it is possible that the regulator may try again with FTX. Ironically, this leaves the SEC potentially delaying payments to customers that it failed to protect before the exchange went belly up a year ago. Read more.

CURRENT PRICE OF TOP 5 COINS (7-Day % Change)

Coin

Price

Percent Change

Bitcoin (BTC)

$36,502

2%

Ether (ETH)

$1,948

6.8%

Tether (USDT)

$1.00

0%

Binance Coin (BNB)

$244

2.9%

XRP (XRP)

$0.61

7.6%

Source: Forbes Digital Assets. Prices as of 4:00 p.m. on November 17, 2023.

BITCOIN AND SOLANA’S GAINS EASE PATH TO FTX PAYOUTS

There is also some good news for FTX: Soaring crypto prices have increased the value of visible assets held by the exchange to the point where they seem able to satisfy all the claims that small investors have filed against the business.

Solana has nearly doubled since Forbes calculated on October 27 that FTX had assets worth about $12.6 billion that could be used to finance the $14.8 billion of net customer claims. Along with an 11% rise in bitcoin, there is now approximately $1.8 billion more in the exchange’s coffers from those two tokens alone.

FTX also held $1.6 billion worth of other major tokens, which if they rose in line with the 27% rally by the rest of the crypto market added about $460 million more, likely providing enough money to make small customers whole.

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