Loading Ratings...
Explore the biggest token unlocks in crypto history and how massive supply releases shaped prices, liquidity, and market behavior.
Author: Kritika Gupta
Published On: Fri, 23 Jan 2026 12:54:05 GMT
The biggest token unlocks in crypto history mark moments when massive amounts of previously locked supply entered circulation, often reshaping prices, liquidity, and market sentiment overnight. These events are not accidents. They result from vesting schedules designed to align founders, investors, and communities while preventing early supply shocks. However, when token prices surge ahead of unlock dates, even disciplined schedules can unleash billions of dollars worth of new supply at once.
From politically charged meme coins like TRUMP to real-world asset protocols such as ONDO and DeFi systems like Ethena and Hyperliquid, recent years have produced some of the largest unlocks ever recorded. Many occurred during late-cycle rallies, where valuations inflated faster than organic demand could absorb new supply. Understanding the biggest token unlocks in crypto history helps investors evaluate dilution risk, anticipate volatility, and separate sustainable tokenomics from narrative-driven excess.
Token unlocks play a structural role in crypto markets. They determine how and when supply enters circulation, shaping long-term price behavior more than most short-term news events.
At their core, unlocks exist to solve a trust problem. Early crypto projects learned quickly that unrestricted supply leads to rapid sell-offs, insider exits, and collapsed confidence. Vesting schedules introduced time-based accountability. Founders and investors could not immediately sell, and communities gained visibility into future dilution.
Unlocks also influence market psychology. When supply enters gradually, markets can price it in. When supply arrives through cliffs, volatility increases. Traders front-run unlocks, hedge exposure, or rotate capital into safer assets. In bullish conditions, unlocks may fund ecosystem growth through incentives and liquidity programs. In bearish phases, they often amplify drawdowns.
As token models evolved beyond ICOs, unlocks became more sophisticated. Projects introduced linear vesting, staking-linked releases, and governance-controlled schedules. Despite these improvements, the biggest token unlocks in crypto history show that scale still matters. When billions of dollars unlock at elevated valuations, even strong fundamentals face stress.
Token unlocks are enforced through smart contracts that release escrowed tokens according to predefined schedules. Most unlock schedules appear in tokenomics documents and are tracked by platforms like Tokenomist and CryptoRank. However, price impact depends less on transparency and more on timing.
The 2021 bull market transformed modest allocations into multi-billion-dollar unlocks. By 2024 and 2025, higher fully diluted valuations pushed unlock values to unprecedented levels. Many of the biggest token unlocks in crypto history occurred when enthusiasm outpaced real usage, creating supply shocks that markets struggled to absorb.
External factors amplified this effect. Institutional flows, ETF approvals, and Bitcoin halving cycles inflated prices, while prior events like the FTX collapse normalized large forced liquidations. Together, these forces set the stage for unlocks that rivaled major exchange inflows in size.
The Official Trump (TRUMP) meme coin recorded the largest single token unlock ever, with roughly 55 million tokens released in a major cliff event. Intense political speculation and meme-driven momentum pushed prices sharply higher before the unlock, inflating its USD value into the billions.
The release accounted for a significant portion of total supply and primarily benefited founders, team members, and early participants. Retail interest peaked ahead of the unlock, followed by rapid selling and steep volatility afterward. This event highlighted how politically themed meme coins amplify both upside and downside when supply mechanics collide with narrative hype.
Ondo Finance experienced one of the most significant utility-driven unlocks when roughly 1.94 billion ONDO tokens entered circulation. The unlocked amount exceeded the circulating supply at the time, testing liquidity across exchanges.
Unlike purely speculative assets, much of the unlocked supply supported protocol development, community programs, and RWA expansion. Although prices faced short-term pressure, ONDO absorbed the event better than most, demonstrating how structured demand can soften the impact of large releases.
The S token unlock occurred during a low-liquidity year-end period, magnifying its impact. Despite limited hype, elevated valuations turned the unlock into a multi-billion-dollar event.
The market struggled to absorb the supply, leading to sustained selling pressure. This unlock illustrated how mid-cap projects face heightened risk when large vesting schedules mature without corresponding demand growth.
MOVE’s unlock coincided with renewed interest in gaming and metaverse narratives. Pre-unlock optimism pushed prices higher, but adoption lagged behind expectations. When supply entered circulation, sentiment reversed quickly. The resulting correction showed how narrative-driven valuations often fail to hold once supply mechanics reassert control.
Ethena’s unlock released nearly 68 percent of circulating supply at the time. The protocol relied heavily on staking, incentives, and liquidity programs to offset sell pressure. While ENA experienced short-term volatility, much of the unlocked supply remained active within the ecosystem. This event demonstrated how yield-based designs can partially neutralize dilution risk.
In a follow-up to its earlier massive release, Ondo Finance faced another significant cliff unlock in early 2026, releasing tokens worth around $772 million (over 57% of adjusted supply). This iterative vesting approach allowed gradual market absorption compared to one-off mega-events, with allocations supporting continued RWA integrations and protocol enhancements.
The unlock occurred amid maturing institutional adoption of tokenized assets, helping ONDO maintain relative stability post-release and reinforcing the token’s role in bridging traditional finance with crypto.
Bitget’s native exchange token BGB underwent a cliff unlock of about 140.56 million tokens valued at roughly $528 million, equating to around 7.76% of adjusted supply. Allocated partly for team, branding, and promotional activities, this release injected fresh liquidity into the exchange ecosystem during competitive periods in the CEX space.
While it sparked discussions on centralized token models versus decentralized alternatives, the unlock supported platform upgrades and user incentives, showing how exchange tokens can leverage unlocks for growth without catastrophic price impacts if demand remains robust.
Hyperliquid’s HYPE token kicked off a series of high-profile releases with a $383 million unlock in late 2025, marking a major liquidity event for the decentralized perpetuals trading platform. As DeFi derivatives gained traction, this influx coincided with innovation peaks, where community airdrops and staking helped cushion potential sell pressure.
The event demonstrated resilience in high-growth sectors, where unlocked supply often gets redeployed into protocol usage rather than immediate exits.
This recurring pattern of sizable but spaced-out unlocks allowed the market to normalize supply increases, with tokens supporting core contributors and ecosystem development. It highlighted how projects with strong fundamentals and active usage can handle sequential unlocks more effectively, maintaining momentum despite ongoing vesting.
The second major TRUMP unlock in early 2026 released tokens valued at around $299 million, including both cliff and linear components (nearly 28% of supply in some phases). Building on earlier hype but facing waning momentum as political narratives cooled, this event exposed the fragility of meme coins to sustained unlocks.
With allocations to founders and team, it contributed to further volatility, serving as a cautionary tale about the limits of narrative-driven tokens when supply dynamics outpace organic demand.
Large unlocks introduce supply shocks that can overwhelm demand, especially during market downturns. Cliff releases remain the most dangerous, often triggering sharp corrections. Insider selling worsens damage by eroding trust and signaling weak conviction.
Transparency issues still persist. Some projects obscure schedules or adjust terms late, fueling uncertainty. Regulatory pressure also grows as authorities scrutinize aggressive vesting models. Even well-designed unlocks struggle when valuations detach from fundamentals.
The biggest token unlocks in crypto history reveal a consistent pattern. Supply mechanics eventually overpower narratives, hype, and short-term momentum. Projects that combine transparent vesting, real demand, and phased releases tend to survive large unlocks with less damage. Those driven purely by speculation rarely do.
As crypto matures, unlocks will remain unavoidable. What changes is how markets respond. Better token design, stronger governance, and deeper liquidity can turn unlocks from destabilizing shocks into manageable transitions. For investors, understanding the biggest token unlocks in crypto history is not optional. It is essential for navigating dilution risk, spotting structural weaknesses, and identifying projects built to last rather than pump.
