Data from Token Unlocks shows that more Aptos, ApeCoin, and Optimism tokens will be released on various dates in July. The unlocking of APT, OP, and APE could significantly impact their valuation, possibly forcing prices lower considering the dilution expected.
While the impact might be negative, considering supply and demand dynamics, their respective prices could recover depending on the overall performance of the crypto market and existing market sentiment.
Aptos, ApeCoin, and Optimism To Unlock Tokens
As of July 3, Aptos will be the first to unlock even more coins. According to the tracker, 4.54 million APT, worth roughly $33 million and representing 2.17% of the circulating supply, will be released on July 12. At the moment, only 17% of all APT have been unlocked. In all, there are 1,042,713,962 as total supply with 209,061,786 APT in circulating supply, according to CoinMarketCap.
On the other hand, 15.60 million APE, the governance token of the ApeCoin DAO ecosystem, will be unlocked on July 17. Tokens released will represent 4.23% of the circulating supply and are estimated to be worth over $34.3 million at spot rates. The last batch of coins released was a month earlier, on June 17.
According to trackers, APE has a total supply of 1 billion, but only 368,593,750 APE are in circulation. So far, 47% of APE has been unlocked, per Token Unlocks. Most APE is allocated to the Treasury, while 150 million belong to Yuga Labs.
Optimism, the layer-2 scaling platform, will be the last project to unlock tokens on July 30. This will align with their monthly emissions in their vesting schedule. The layer-2 scaling project will release 24.16 million OP worth over $32 million at spot rates.
Even so, only 16% of the total supply has been unlocked. These tokens are allocated to core contributors who control 19% of the total supply. Currently, 644,594,782 OP are circulating out of the possible 4,294,967,296 OP in total supply.
Will Prices Fall?
Crypto projects employ various strategies to support prices and reward early investors. Depending on their plans, tokens bought during crowdfunding rounds are typically locked for a period and released depending on a vesting schedule. This schedule dictates how tokens are released.
There are diverse reasons why projects vest tokens; part is to prevent dumps on exchange listings. However, vesting tokens before unlocking months or years later can align the interest of investors and team members.
How APT, APE, and OP prices react is unclear. Even so, with increasing supply, market forces dictate that spot prices will likely fall, the degree to which will depend on the liquidity of each token.
Feature image from Canva, chart from TradingView
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