Emily Walker
A number of prominent altcoin projects are preparing for a significant release of tokens as several unlock events are set to occur. Data from Tokenomist indicates that a considerable volume of these tokens will enter circulation in the early days of December.
This wave of token unlocks is projected to involve approximately $578 million in total. It’s worth noting that this is just one part of a larger total of $3.5 billion in token unlocks scheduled for December.
Significant Altcoin Unlocks Coming in Early December
The initial week of December will see a notable influx of tokens, amounting to about $574.8 million across various altcoin projects. These scheduled unlocks, set for December 2nd to December 8th, are expected to introduce new liquidity into the market, potentially posing a risk to the ongoing altcoin rally.
Leading the unlocks is JTO, based on Solana, with $496.71 million worth of tokens set to be released, significantly boosting its circulating supply by 103.32%. In comparison, Cardano’s ADA token will experience a smaller release of $19.44 million, which is only 0.05% of its total supply. However, this is anticipated to be easily absorbed by the current demand for ADA.
Following JTO, NEON will unlock $21.15 million, which represents a 44.92% increase in its supply. Other notable projects include TAIKO with $17.47 million (an 11.38% increase), ENA with $9.17 million (0.45%), and HFT at $3.11 million (2.87%).
Weekly Cliff Unlocks : 2 – 8 Dec ’24
$574.8m +
Unlock Highlights
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( % of cir. supply) pic.twitter.com/K2IoEq7YPr— Tokenomist (prev. TokenUnlocks) (@Tokenomist_ai) November 29, 2024
Potential Effects of Unlocks on Cryptocurrency Prices
The release of previously locked tokens allows them to be traded on the market, typically resulting in a surge in supply. This sudden availability can exert downward pressure on prices, especially if many holders choose to sell their tokens quickly after the release.
Furthermore, data from Tokenomist.ai suggests that December will see even more significant token unlocks. Among these, Hyperlink (HYPE) is notable, with a massive $1.48 billion in tokens scheduled for release.
Given its current market cap of $2.297 billion, the addition of such a large amount of unlocked tokens could significantly influence its pricing, predominantly if numerous holders opt to divest their tokens upon release.
Sui (SUI) will also be part of this trend, with $218.26 million in tokens, which is 2.3% of its total supply, being unlocked. Additionally, Optimism (OP) will see $73.34 million in tokens released.
Image sourced from Pexels, chart from TradingView