Optimism Token Prices Slide 7% Ahead of $580M OP Unlock, Doubling Token Supply
The initial vesting period for early investors and contributors ends today and will nearly double the circulating supply of the tokens.
May 30, 2023 at 5:57 a.m. UTC:format(webp)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/coindesk/SZE6MY5KXJDGDNGTO6L2FDXW7Q.jpg)
Early private investors will be able to sell some of their holdings. (Unsplash, modified by CoinDesk)
Tokens worth over $587 million of Ethereum scaling protocol Optimism are set to be released into the open market on Tuesday as part of a planned unlock plan, leading to prices of OP tokens falling 7%.
When tokens are “unlocked,” their holders are then able to sell or swap that token if they wish to do so.
The more than 386 million optimism tokens are currently held by early contributors and investors, and the move will nearly double OP’s circulating supply – which stands at 335 million tokens on Tuesday morning.
Early investors are likely sitting on significant gains and could choose to take profits, contributing to immense selling pressure. As such, immediately available liquidity on OP token pairs across decentralized and centralized exchanges is under $10 million – and a single sell order of $600,000 could dunk prices 2% further on Binance.
The unlock comes as OP tokens have been on a general downturn since February this year, sliding from $3 to $1.5 even as bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) gained at least 50% in that period.
OP trades at $1.50 as of Tuesday, with a trading volume of $103 million over the past 24 hours.
DISCLOSURE
Please note that our privacy policy, terms of use, cookies, and do not sell my personal information has been updated.
The leader in news and information on cryptocurrency, digital assets and the future of money, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups. As part of their compensation, certain CoinDesk employees, including editorial employees, may receive exposure to DCG equity in the form of stock appreciation rights, which vest over a multi-year period. CoinDesk journalists are not allowed to purchase stock outright in DCG.
:format(webp)/s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/coindesk/6c6bb5af-692c-4fcf-9f8b-a75d0549effd.png)
Shaurya is the Deputy Managing Editor for the Data & Tokens team, focusing on decentralized finance, markets, on-chain data, and governance across all major and minor blockchains.
Learn more about Consensus 2024, CoinDesk’s longest-running and most influential event that brings together all sides of crypto, blockchain and Web3. Head to consensus.coindesk.com to register and buy your pass now.