$600M XRP token release to bring August crypto unlocks to $1.5B

Update (July 29, 6:00 am UTC): This article has been updated to include information concerning the XRP re-locking process. 

Nearly $1.5 billion in tokens from major crypto projects are set to be unlocked in August, with 1 billion XRP tokens — worth $609 million at current prices — making up a massive part of the month’s total on Aug. 1.

Ripple, the firm behind the XRP Ledger blockchain and its native XRP ( XRP ) token, has unlocked up to 1 billion tokens on the first day of every month since 2017. It uses several main escrow wallets, including  Ripple (24) and Ripple (25) , to evenly split the unlocks each month.

However, Ripple may look to re-lock much of the newly released XRP. Ripple relocked 800 million XRP from its June 1 unlock; however, it still made moves to sell around 300 million XRP — worth $182 million at the time — according to data from TradingView. 

While up to 1 billion XRP tokens are unlocked at the start of each month, the actual amount of XRP that would be released into circulation is “likely much less than this” due to a re-escrow process, wrote XRP Ledger in a 2017 blog post . 

Other major unlocks in August include those from layer-1 network Avalanche and cross-chain bridging platform Wormhole, releasing a combined $449 million worth of tokens, per Token Unlocks data .

On Aug. 3, Wormhole will unlock 33.3% of its circulating supply, amounting to 600 million Wormhole ( W ) tokens with a current market value of $180.5 million. It comes after conducting its long-awaited airdrop launch on April 4.

On Aug. 20, Avalanche will unlock 2.4% of the circulating supply of its Avalanche ( AVAX ) tokens, amounting to 9.4 million AVAX with a current market value of $268 million.

Tokens unlocking on the first day of August

Other than XRP, another three projects, including layer-1 network Sui, decentralized exchange dYdX, and “universal” blockchain ZetaChain will also unlock significant portions of their supply on the first day of August.

Sui will unlock 2.56% of its circulating supply, releasing 64 million tokens with a current value of $50 million on Aug. 1.

DYdX will unlock 8.33 million tokens worth nearly $11 million on the same day — amounting to 3.65% of its circulating supply. Notably, the tokens will unlock for three groups: investors, founders and staff and future employees.

Related: Worldcoin faces ‘scam’ allegations after extending token lockup by 2 years

Meanwhile, the new layer-1 network ZetaChain will unlock nearly 18.9% of its circulating supply of ZetaChain ( ZETA ) tokens on Aug. 1. At current prices, 53.9 million tokens have a market value of around $34.5 million. It follows its  launch in February .

Other August unlocks

Crypto gaming network ImmutableX will unlock 2.11% of the circulating supply of Immutable ( IMX ) tokens on Aug. 9, amounting to 32.5 million tokens, which command a current market value of $49 million.

Aptos, Sui’s rival layer-1 network, will unlock $80 million worth of its native Aptos ( APT ) token on Aug. 12, while Web3 gaming platform The Sandbox will unlock $69 million worth of its native The Sandbox ( SAND ) tokens on Aug. 14.

Two Ethereum layer-2 networks, Starknet and Arbitrum, are also set to release tokens.

On Aug. 15, Starknet will unlock 64 million Starknet ( STRK ) tokens, amounting to 4.4% of the token’s circulating supply. The tokens have a current market value of $35 million.

On Aug. 16, Arbitrum will unlock 92.6 million Arbitrum ( ARB ) tokens, amounting to 2.8% of its circulating supply. The market value of the yet-to-be-unlocked tokens stands at $67 million.

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