Crypto Token Unlocks To Cross $700 Million In February 2024, Here Are The Culprits

February is set to be a hot point for crypto assets, with several cryptocurrencies set to release over $800 million worth of assets during the month. According to data from TokenUnlocks, 26 crypto projects are set to carry out token unlocks in February, potentially flooding the crypto market with almost $1 billion worth of crypto assets. Most of this liquidity is set to come from Avalanche (AVAX), with approximately $345 million worth of AVAX set to hit the market in the middle of February.

Many major projects like Aptos (APT), The Sandbox (SAND), and Avalanche (AVAX) have unlocking events scheduled for February 2024. Avalanche, for instance, is set to unlock 9.54 million AVAX tokens, representing 2.6% of the total supply on February 22. This token unlock is set to be allocated in four batches, with 2.25 million AVAX tokens going to strategic partners, 1.67 million tokens to the foundation, 4.50 million tokens to the Avalanche team, and 1.13 million tokens as airdrops.

Aptos (APT) will unlock 7.34% of its total supply on February 11 to the tune of 24.84 million APT tokens worth $228.55 million. In the same vein, metaverse platform The Sandbox will unlock $205.59 million SAND tokens, representing 9.19% of its circulating supply, on February 14. At the time of writing, these tokens are worth $90.46 million.

Ethereum L2 blockchain Optimism is also set to unlock 24.16 million OP tokens worth $71.51 million on February 29. This represents 2.52% of its total supply.

Other notable tokens also set for unlock include SUI, Algorand (ALGO), ApeCoin (APE), MANTA, and AGIX. Once unlocked, these tokens are free to be sold on the open market

Crypto unlocks among altcoins are not a new phenomenon in the crypto industry, and they tend to have both positive and negative impacts on the price of such crypto assets. However, once those locked tokens are unlocked, they can enter the open market. 

This means that a large supply of tokens may become available for trading simultaneously. If any of those newly unlocked tokens are sold right away, it can put downward pressure on the price as the supply overwhelms demand.

At the time of writing, the crypto market is at somewhat of a standstill in terms of price volatility, although some cryptocurrencies like Chainlink (LINK) are currently on substantial gains in the past seven days. 

Chainlink also recently witnessed an unlock of 19 million LINK tokens worth $341 million. Following this, 16 million tokens were deposited into the crypto exchange Binance immediately, suggesting a sell-off.