When FTX collapsed, Solana lost 95% of its value and was declared dead. Two years later, it hit a new all-time high. Here’s the inside story.
The Day Everything Changed
November 8, 2022. FTX — the third-largest crypto exchange — was insolvent. For Solana, it was existential. Alameda held billions in SOL. FTX had incubated dozens of Solana projects. The Serum DEX was an FTX creation.
The Numbers Were Brutal
SOL crashed from $36 to $12 (67% in days). From the $260 peak: over 95% lost. TVL collapsed. 20% of projects lost funding. Serum DEX died. Crypto Twitter declared Solana dead.
What the Critics Missed
They watched token prices (lagging indicators). They should have watched GitHub commits (leading indicators). The core team kept shipping. The community self-organized — OpenBook replaced Serum. The real builders stayed. Bear market developers are the most valuable kind.
The Recovery Timeline
Early 2023: Survival mode. SOL $10-25. Rebuilding infrastructure. Mid 2023: Signs of life. Transaction counts climbing. Late 2023: The turning point. Bonk memecoin, SOL above $60. 2024: DePIN wave (Helium, Render). Phantom hits 10M users. SOL past $150. January 2025: SOL reaches $294 — new all-time high.
Why the Comeback Worked
The technology was real. Firedancer changed the resilience narrative. The FTX purge was ultimately healthy — removing centralized dependency. Bear markets reward builders. And real-world utility (DePIN, payments, consumer apps) gave Solana substance beyond speculation.
This is the story the headlines missed.
The Solana Story by Ryan Bethencourt goes behind the code — from Anatoly’s Qualcomm days to the FTX crisis to the comeback that shocked crypto.
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