Locked crypto assets worth more than $3.1 billion are set to be released in May, with notable projects such as Sui and Pyth Network each unlocking over $1 billion in tokens.
The purpose of locking crypto ownership is to encourage long-term commitment to a crypto project. By preventing early investors or team members from quickly selling their tokens and abandoning the project, the supply and demand balance is maintained.
In May, the Layer-1 blockchain platform Sui will unlock the largest amount of locked crypto assets. On May 31, nearly one billion tokens will be unlocked by investors from Series A and B, early contributors, the Mysten Labs treasury, and the community reserve. At the time of writing, the value of these tokens was approximately $1.15 billion.
Pyth Network, a market data platform, will unlock the second largest amount of tokens in May. On May 20, over two billion tokens will be unlocked for protocol development, ecosystem growth, publisher rewards, and private sale investors. The market value of these tokens is around $1.1 billion.
Other projects such as Avalanche, Aptos, Arbitrum, Starknet, Optimism, and Immutable will also witness token unlocks totaling over $700 million.
Aptos will release 11.3 million APT tokens worth $101 million on May 12. These tokens will be allocated to the foundation, community, core participants, and investors. Avalanche will unlock approximately 9.5 million AVAX tokens worth about $321 million on May 22 for strategic partners, foundation, team, and an airdrop event.
Arbitrum, a Layer-2 blockchain network, will release ARB tokens worth $95 million on May 16 for the project team and investors. The Starknet team will unlock $84 million worth of tokens for investors and early contributors on May 15, while Immutable will unlock $56 million worth of crypto tokens for ecosystem and project development on May 17.
Optimism, a Layer-2 scaling solution, will unlock 24.1 million OP tokens worth approximately $70 million on May 29. In May 2023, Optimism released $587 million worth of OP tokens for early contributors and investors.
It’s important to note that the information in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware of the high volatility and risks associated with cryptocurrencies and conduct their own research.