Over $755M Crypto Tokens to be Unlocked in July, Will The Market Plunge Further?

The crypto market faces huge token unlocks in July as the vesting schedule of several projects continues. Considering how much the market has lost this month and the current state of the sector, there could be further slumps in the value of tokens due to pressure from the unlocks.

Data from Token Unlocks shows that $755 million worth of cryptocurrencies would be unlocked in July from over 40 projects, including AltLayer (ALT), Xai (XAI), Aptos (APT), Arbitrum (ARB), Optimism (OP), Sui (SUI), Immutable (IMX), and Starknet (STRK), most of which released substantial amounts of tokens in June.

Tokens Worth $755M to be Unlocked in July

The largest unlock for July will come from the decentralized protocol AltLayer. The project is to release 684 million ALT tokens, worth roughly $125 million, which will be allocated to the protocol’s treasury, development, investors, team, and advisers.  

Following AltLayer is Xai, an Arbitrum-based gaming layer-3 network. Xai will unlock $93 million worth of XAI, with portions allocated to its investors, team, ecosystem, and reserves.

While AltLayer’s and Xai’s token unlocks are substantial, they are not as heavy as the collective unlocks of projects like Aptos, Arbitrum, Starknet, Sui, and Immutable, which have released their assets for two consecutive months since May.

Aptos will release 11.31 million APT worth $77 million in July after unlocking $101 million and $105 million in May and June, respectively. The tokens will be allocated to Aptos’ core contributors, investors, foundation, and community.

Similarly, Arbitrum will release $75 million worth of ARB, following unlocks worth $101 million and $111 million in May and June. Starknet is set to drop roughly $45 million worth of its native token in July after executing even larger unlocks in the past two months.

In addition, Immutable and Sui are set to drop millions of their tokens after releasing similar amounts in May and June.

Market Expected to Rally in Q3

Last month, there were concerns that the unlock pressure from tokens’ vesting schedules would impact the market negatively in June. While analysts attributed the market’s downtrend to mainly selling pressure from miners and large holders this month, the pressure from the token releases must have contributed significantly to the negative trend.

As Q3 2024 approaches, analysts expect the bulls to retake the reins. It remains to be seen how well the market absorbs the pressure from the upcoming unlocks.