What happened
The crypto market wasn't down across the board this week, but some of the most well-known tokens have suffered a rapid decline.
As of 8 a.m. ET on Friday morning, Solana's (SOL -6.99%) price was down 19.7% over the past week, Chain (XCN -6.42%) had fallen 33.1%, and Axie Infinity (AXS -9.14%) had dropped 15.9%, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence.
So what
Solana continues to deal with the fallout of FTX and Alameda Research's collapse. The two companies were among the largest investors in Solana and that's hurting the token's value just by being associated with the blockchain. But there may be more to the story.
According to Solana Compass, Alameda holds over 48 million Solana tokens, and some of those tokens won't unlock for years. Given FTX's bankruptcy, this stake will likely be liquidated as quickly as possible.
But they're not the only investors who may be selling Solana tokens. Millions of tokens are unlocking just in the next few weeks and there will be a steady increase of token supply hitting the market over the next three years. Investors who put millions into Solana early on may simply want to sell and cash out what they can, putting more pressure on the price.
Chain and Axie Infinity are facing similar questions. Chain's theory of bringing in business partners appears to have been overshadowed by Polygon's success in attracting corporations and even Solana non-fungible token projects like DeGods and Y00ts. If this isn't the corporate chain, I don't know what holds the value up long-term.
Axie Infinity faces similar challenges, needing game players and investors to keep buying in order to keep the token price high. If gamers or investors lose faith, the system can fall apart quickly.
Now what
Narratives have driven value creation and destruction in cryptocurrencies for years and those narratives are simply moving against Solana, Chain, and Axie Infinity right now. Solana, in particular, is suffering from a widespread belief that it's associated with FTX, Alameda, and Sam Bankman-Fried. The ties have been exaggerated, but that doesn't diminish the fact that investors don't want any association with the token right now.
Chain is one of potentially dozens of tokens that were built with a use case in mind but then beaten by another blockchain or token. Corporate partners may have been interested in Chain for some services a year ago, but now most of that attention is moving to Polygon. This narrative may change eventually, but for now, it's what the market believes and is why Polygon is going up and Chain is going down.
Axie Infinity was one of the big blockchain/metaverse gaming plays in crypto, but that narrative has gone almost completely dark. I wouldn't be surprised if it comes back someday, but Axie Infinity may not be the winner when it does.
The crypto market broadly is facing an uncertain 2023 as it claws back from multiple bankruptcies and frauds in 2022, so don't be surprised if the volatility continues. If there's one thing crypto does well it's volatility.
