The month of July is expected to see a significant influx of unlocked cryptocurrency tokens, with a total value exceeding $755 million.
This information comes from Token Unlocks, a data tracker that monitors vesting schedules across various crypto projects. Vesting periods are a common mechanism employed by crypto projects to prevent early investors and team members from immediately selling their tokens. This helps stabilize prices during the crucial early stages of project development.
Largest Token Unlocks Detailed
Token Unlocks data highlights AltLayer (ALT), Xai (XAI), Aptos (APT), Arbitrum (ARB), Optimism (OP), Sui (SUI), Immutable X (IMX), and Starknet (STRK) as projects with the largest upcoming token unlocks in July 2024.
-
AltLayer (ALT): Decentralized protocol AltLayer takes the top spot for token unlocks in July. On July 25th, the project is scheduled to release 684 million ALT tokens, valued at roughly $125 million. These tokens are allocated to the project’s team, investors, advisors, protocol development, treasury ecosystem, and community.
-
Xai (XAI): Following AltLayer is gaming-focused project Xai, with approximately $93 million worth of tokens set to unlock on July 9th. Similar to AltLayer, these XAI tokens are designated for the project’s team, investors, and ecosystem, with an additional $2 million allocated to reserves. Currently, ALT trades around $0.18, while XAI sits at $0.46.
Previous Unlocks and Price Impact
Some of the projects on the list have already witnessed token unlocks in the past few months. Aptos, for instance, unlocked $101 million and $102 million worth of tokens in May and June, respectively.
In July, another batch of 11.31 million APT tokens, valued at $77 million, is scheduled for release. These tokens are allocated to the foundation, community, core contributors, and investors.
Notably, APT’s price has experienced a significant drop in the last three months, falling from a high of $17.63 in April to $6.99 in June, representing a 60% decline.
A similar trend is observed with Arbitrum (ARB), which unlocked $95 million and $105 million in May and June, respectively. July will see another $75 million worth of tokens released for the project’s team, advisors, and investors.
It’s important to note that Arbitrum also had a large token unlock of 1.1 billion ARB tokens valued at $2.32 billion on March 16th. Since then, ARB prices have plummeted by 63%, going from a high of $2.27 on March 8th to $0.82 at the time of writing.
Optimism, Sui, Immutable X, and Starknet have also seen token unlocks in the past two months and are expected to unlock similar amounts in July.
The upcoming influx of unlocked tokens in July raises concerns about potential downward pressure on prices. A large number of tokens entering the market could lead to increased selling pressure, especially if investors are eager to cash out. This is particularly worrisome for projects like AltLayer and Xai, where a significant portion of tokens are unlocking for the first time.