Pantera Capital Eyes $250 Million Opportunity with FTX Estate for SOL: Report

Pantera Capital is reportedly in the process of securing funds from major investors to acquire heavily discounted Solana tokens from the bankruptcy estate of FTX. The company is raising capital for the Pantera Solana Fund, which presents an attractive opportunity to purchase up to $250 million worth of SOL tokens from the FTX estate.

Marketing materials from February, obtained by Bloomberg, reveal that investors would have the option to buy SOL at a price 39% below the 30-day average or at $59.95. However, in exchange for this option, investors would need to commit to a vesting period of up to four years.

Pantera Solana Fund

According to the investor pitch, Pantera initially aimed to finalize the fund’s closure by the end of February. A source familiar with the matter mentioned that the $5.2 billion crypto-focused asset manager managed to raise some funds by the deadline. However, the individual refrained from disclosing the exact dollar amount.

FTX, which entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in US courts in November 2022, possesses 41.1 million SOL coins, valued at $5.4 billion as of Wednesday’s closing price. This accounts for about 10% of the total SOL supply, according to Pantera’s presentation.

The latest proposal from the digital assets-focused hedge fund would enable FTX liquidators, led by John J. Ray III, to sell SOL to generate funds for creditors while avoiding immediate pressure on the token’s price.

Investors must contribute a minimum of $25 million each, with the understanding that the SOL tokens they receive will be initially restricted and will unlock over a four-year period.

Additionally, Pantera intends to implement a management fee of 0.75% and a performance fee of 10%, as outlined in the materials.

Solana and FTX’s Relationship

Sam Bankman-Fried showed significant support for Solana, actively endorsing projects within its ecosystem. His enterprises accumulated substantial amounts of the blockchain’s native token, SOL, from both the Solana Foundation, a nonprofit organization backing the blockchain, and Solana Labs, the blockchain’s developer.

Bankman-Fried even initiated Serum, a decentralized exchange established on Solana’s blockchain, and also provided investment in various projects operating on Solana’s network.

As a result, SOL turned out to be one of the biggest losers after FTX plunged into bankruptcy.

The Solana Foundation had approximately $1 million in cash or cash equivalents held on FTX.com when the trading platform halted customer withdrawals in early November. This amount represented less than 1% of the foundation’s total cash or cash equivalents, and there were no SOL tokens held in custody on the exchange.