Every month, regardless of market conditions, the same mechanism repeats itself. Millions of new tokens are released onto the market, potentially causing selling pressure on the price of the crypto in question. Find out which token unlocks to watch out for in December to stay one step ahead.
The 5 crypto unlocks to watch in December
While most altcoins have underperformed over the last 30 days, a well-oiled mechanism could accentuate this dynamic: the famous token unlocks.
As usual, millions of tokens will be released in December.
Although a token unlock does not necessarily mean a drop in the price of the asset in question, this event contributes, at the very least, to increasing supply relative to demand, which can translate into selling pressure.
This month, there are some important unlocks to be aware of and keep an eye on, particularly for ENA, APT, PUMP, STRK, and ASTER tokens:
Ethena (ENA)
- Quantity: 94.19 million ENA tokens;
- Value: $23.37 million;
- Unlock date: December 2;
- Quantity released relative to circulating supply: 1.27%.
Ethena is a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol that offers an alternative to traditional stablecoins through a product called USDe, a “synthetic” stablecoin pegged to the dollar.
Unlike reserve-backed stablecoins (such as USDT or USDC), USDe is kept stable through a hedging strategy based on crypto derivatives.
The ENA crypto is the governance token of the Ethena protocol. It allows users to participate in decisions about the evolution of the protocol and receive staking rewards.
Over the past 30 days, the price of the ENA token has fallen by around 30%. The project is struggling to recover from the liquidation event that occurred on October 10. Since this event (indicated by the white arrow on the chart), Ethena’s flagship product, USDe, has fallen by more than 50% in terms of capitalization:
On December 2, Ethena will release $94.19 million worth of ENA tokens, representing approximately $23.4 million or 1.27% of its total market cap.
Aptos (APT)
- Quantity: 11.31 million APT tokens;
- Value: $22.02 million;
- Unlock date: December 12;
- Quantity released relative to circulating supply: 1.54%.
Aptos is a layer 1 blockchain born from the ashes of Diem, a crypto project abandoned by Facebook (Meta) under regulatory pressure. Based on the Move language, Aptos is an ultra-fast blockchain. It offers significantly lower transaction fees than the Ethereum blockchain, making it relevant in the high-frequency trading sector.
Over the past 30 days, the price of APT crypto has fallen by more than 39%. Despite the fact that some on-chain metrics for the Aptos blockchain are relatively encouraging, selling pressure remains higher than demand, which is mechanically driving the price down.
As we can see from the chart above, new APT tokens are coming onto the market every month, contributing to this imbalance between supply and demand. On December 12, 11.31 million APT tokens will be released, representing more than $22 million for 1.54% of its capitalization.
Pump.fun (PUMP)
- Quantity: 10 billion PUMP tokens;
- Value: $30.08 million;
- Unlock date: December 14;
- Quantity released relative to circulating supply: 1.7%.
Pump.fun is a popular launchpad platform for tokens, usually memecoins, on the Solana blockchain.
With the crypto market performing sluggishly, speculation, particularly on protocols such as Pump.fun, has been impacted. However, the project remains one of the most undervalued to date in terms of its Market Cap/Revenue (MC/R) ratio of 4.4.
In other words, the Pump.fun project injects about a quarter of its capitalization into the token each year through a buyback mechanism (repurchasing tokens on the market). This mechanism, which is highly appreciated by investors, has the benefit of reducing supply, which can translate into a price appreciation or, at the very least, reduce the impact of token unlocks.
On December 14, 10 billion PUMP tokens will be released, representing more than $30 million, or 1.7% of its capitalization. Over the last 30 days, the price of PUMP crypto has fallen by nearly 30%.
StarkNet (STARK)
- Quantity: 127.6 million STRK tokens;
- Value: $16.02 million;
- Unlock date: December 15;
- Quantity released relative to circulating supply: 2.66%.
StarkNet is a scalability solution for the Ethereum blockchain, based on the Cairo language. The project also seeks to expand into the Bitcoin ecosystem, particularly to develop Bitcoin finance (BTCFi).
StarkNet is one of those projects that is heavily overfunded by venture capital (VC) funds. During the various fundraising rounds carried out by the project, more than $282.5 million was raised. This is a tidy sum, which comes with its share of trade-offs.
Indeed, the STRK token is subject to high inflation due to the project’s monthly unlocks, which creates a gap between the crypto’s capitalization and its price. While the total capitalization increases as unlocks occur, dilution mechanically drives down the price of the STRK crypto:
On December 15, 127.6 million STRK tokens will be released, representing more than $16 million for 2.66% of its capitalization. Over the last 30 days, the price of STRK crypto has appreciated by 18%.
Aster
- Quantity: 78.41 million ASTER tokens;
- Value: $79.43 million;
- Unlock date: December 17;
- Quantity released relative to circulating supply: 3.89%.
Aster is a decentralized exchange (DEX) specializing in perpetual contract (perp) trading, but also offering spot trading and tokenized stocks.
Publicly supported by Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ), Aster has quickly established itself as a credible alternative to industry leader Hyperliquid.
Buoyed by a wave of speculation surrounding its airdrop, Aster quickly took significant market share from Hyperliquid. Since the hype has died down, Aster accounts for between 20 and 25% of volumes across all DEX perps.
By comparison, Hyperliquid now has similar market shares.
On December 17, Aster will release 78.41 million tokens, representing $79.43 million for 3.89% of its capitalization. Over the past 14 days, the price of ASTER crypto has fallen by 20%.
Honorable mentions
Other significant unlocks to watch out for in December include:
The layer 1 blockchain Sei, which will release 95.15 million tokens of the same name on December 15, representing nearly $13.3 million for 1.49% of its capitalization.
The layer 2 blockchain Arbitrum, which will release 92.63 million ARB tokens on December 16, representing nearly $20.2 million for 1.65% of its valuation.
Merlin Chain, a layer blockchain for Bitcoin, will release 36.14 million MERL tokens on December 19, representing $12.16 million for 3.32% of its capitalization.
The LayerZero project will release 24.68 million ZRO tokens on December 20, representing $34.44 million for 10.3% of its valuation.
The Humanity Protocol project will release 133.54 million H tokens on December 25, representing more than $16.5 million for 7.32% of its capitalization.
The Layer 1 Plasma, which specializes in stablecoins, will release 88.88 million XPL tokens on the same day, representing nearly $16.5 million for 4.94% of its valuation.
The layer 2 Optimism will release 32.21 million OP tokens on December 31, representing $10.38 million for 1.7% of its capitalization.
