The holiday season is over, and the crypto projects are set to conduct massive token unlocks. Due to token unlocks, many tokens that were locked earlier will enter the circulating supply. This article highlights four up-and-coming cryptocurrencies that investors may wish to watch based on their innovative use cases. A large amount of Altcoin unlocks await the cryptocurrency community in the new week, and here is the list to focus on.
Token Unlocks This Week:
1. Optimism (OP)
Unlock date: January 30
Number of tokens unlocked: 24,160,000 OP
Current circulating offer: 957 378. 568. OP
Optimism is a second layer solution designed to increase the speed and scalability of the Ethereum network. According to DefiLlama, it is one of the leaders among L2 networks in terms of the number of running protocols and the volume of blocked funds (TVL). The OP token is used for voting, managing projects within the Optimism Collective community, and developing the ecosystem. The coins released during the next unlock will be distributed among investors and key participants in the project.
2.Sui (SUI)
Unlock date: January 31
Number of tokens unlocked: 4,000,000 SUI
Current circulating supply: 1,100,947,214 SUI
Sui is a high-performance layer-one (L1) blockchain. The operation and security of the network is ensured by the Proof-of-Stake consensus algorithm. The project was developed by Mysten Labs – it was founded in 2021 by a group of former Novi Research employees who were responsible for creating the Diem blockchain and the Move programming language.
Since December 2021, Mysten Labs has raised $336 million across two funding rounds. The project’s main investors include Binance Labs, Franklin Templeton and a16z Crypto.
The next SUI unlock will happen on January 31st. “Unfrozen” tokens will go to the community reserve.
3. dYdX (DYDX)
Unlock date: February 1
Number of tokens unlocked: 33,330,000 DYDX
Current circulating offer: 313 656 557 DYDX
In early 2023, the largest decentralized derivatives trading protocol, dYdX, announced changes to the project’s original tokenomics. According to the update, 30% of DYDX’s total supply will go to early investors, another 30% will be distributed between the team and community reserve, 28% will be used to reward traders and liquidity providers, and the remainder will go to future employees. Currently, more than 50% of the total DYDX supply is in circulation. The remaining tokens will be unlocked in small increments over the next two years.
4. Acala (ACA)
Unlock date: February 1
Number of tokens unlocked: 27,430,000 ACA
Current circulating offer: 885 741 665 ACA
Launched in 2019, Acala Network is the first DeFi consortium of its kind, formed by two teams of active participants in the Polkadot ecosystem – Laminar and Polkawallet. The platform enables smart contracts and is compatible with external blockchains (for example, Ethereum). ACA tokens unlocked on February 1 and it will be divided between strategic partners and the project team.
Token Unlocks
Token unlocks refer to the release of previously locked or restricted tokens. Many blockchain projects implement token locks to manage and control the supply of their native tokens. Some vital reasons for token lock-ups include ensuring team members’ long-term commitment and incentivizing certain behaviors among investors and other participants within the ecosystem.