It’s an important week for owners of Optimism (OP) and Sui (SUI). The two projects will collectively unlock approximately $100 million worth of tokens this evening. This could put pressure on the price of these two cryptos.
What does unlocking crypto tokens involve?
Unlocking tokens is a commonly used strategy for crypto projects. Essentially it means putting more tokens into circulation. The purpose can vary, but usually it is aimed at improving the decentralization of the network and attracting new users.
The biggest advantage of the two is optimism. In total, the Layer 2 protocol will unlock 24.16 million OP tokens worth more than $92 million at 4 a.m. tonight. This represents 2.52 percent of the total OP tokens in circulation.
The other unlock, that of SUI, amounts to 4 million tokens worth $6.68 million. This is significantly smaller in comparison and only accounts for 0.34 percent of the total amount of SUI tokens in circulation. SUI activation will take place this evening at 1:00 a.m.
Both activations are part of a long-term phased plan in which tokens will be unlocked gradually over a period of ten years. For example, there will be a very big activation for SUI next April.
Press SUI and OP courses?
Currently, only a small portion of all tokens from both projects are in circulation. Optimism has a total of 21 percent of all tokens in circulation and Sui Network only 12 percent. The other tokens are still locked and will therefore be gradually unlocked.
As mentioned, the unlocking of the SUI and OP tokens could put pressure on the price. More tokens mean the available supply increases, which can negatively impact prices.
In some cases we are already seeing prices drop in anticipation of an unlock. There are hardly any signs of this so far. SUI stands today more than 4 percent in the green and OP is 2.83 percent in the green.