Token Unlocks data shows that several crypto projects—Avalanche, Wormhole, Aptos, Sandbox, Arbitrum, Optimism, and others—are set to unlock tokens valued at about $1 billion in August.
Approximately $260 million will be released in the first three days of the month.
Crypto projects frequently plan token unlocks to control asset supply and prevent market oversaturation. This gradual release helps avoid significant sell-offs by early investors or team members holding large quantities of the crypto asset.
Wormhole, Avalanche to release over $400 million worth of tokens
The largest unlocks this month will come from Wormhole and Avalanche.
On Aug. 3, Wormhole, a cross-chain messaging protocol, will release 600 million tokens worth $151.67 million, constituting 33.33% of its circulating supply.
Avalanche will follow on Aug. 20, unlocking 9.54 million AVAX tokens valued at approximately $251 million, representing 2.42% of its circulating supply.
Token Unlocks dashboard shows that 4.5 million AVAX worth $118.53 million will go to the Avalanche team, 2.25 million AVAX worth $59.27 million to strategic partners, and the remainder will be allocated to the Foundation and as airdrops.
Farid Rached, the former Ecosystem Growth Manager at Avalanche, pointed out that this planned unlock would be the most bullish in its history because “it is the last major one for team and public/private investors.”
Other major unlocks
Sui, a layer-1 network, will unlock 64 million tokens valued at $50 million, representing 2.56% of its circulating supply on Aug. 1.
Similarly, the decentralized exchange dYdX will release 8.33 million tokens worth nearly $11 million, amounting to 3.65% of its circulating supply. These tokens will be distributed to investors, founders, staff, and future employees.
Aptos will unlock 11.31 million APT tokens worth $74.64 million on Aug. 12. These will be allocated among the Aptos Community, Core Contributors, Foundation, and Investors, with Core Contributors receiving the most significant share—3.96 million APT valued at $26 million.
On Aug. 14, Sandbox will release 205.6 million SAND tokens worth $66.75 million. This release will be divided among the team, advisors, and a company reserve.
Finally, Ethereum’s layer-2 networks Arbitrum and Optimism will collectively unlock over $110 million worth of tokens by Aug. 16 and Aug. 31, respectively.