Tokens have been locked up for years for many high-profile projects. To protect investors and prove transparency, many projects store some of those tokens in a preset smart contract, to be unlocked at a certain date. Some of the most significant unlocking programs belonged to Ripple, where each month the market waited to see if the new unlocked batch would be sold.
A new token unlock is coming up this week for Immutable (IMX), one of the high-profile L2 networks. Immutable will increase its free float with up to 2%, after a new batch of tokens gets unlocked on May 6.
As of May 2024, Immutable has unlocked more than 65.51% of all locked tokens. The current unlock is valued at $1.57M, and represents 1.93% of the free float.
From this moment onward, the unlocks will accelerate even more, increasing the supply of IMX. The market trades around 2.46% of the available supply, which may put pressure on the IMX market price.
IMX Tokens Hold Relatively Low Liquidity
Days before the unlock, IMX traded at $2.21, while trading volumes were around $70M in 24 hours. But this activity comes with thin availability of buyers. The 2% slippage liquidity for IMX is just around $152K, just a fraction of the size of the upcoming token unlock.
IMX is sinking from its recent short-term peak above $3.60, but remains a bit more active after several years of stagnation. The most new IMX comes from rewards for ecosystem development.
IMX is also eligible for staking programs, as well as special quests. The Immutable community can now receive daily Gem rewards for bridging IMX tokens. Over time, IMX holders will receive more IMX into their balance, especially for swapping and bridging quests.
The Immutable project has a long-term view of developing its ecosystem. Still, in the coming months, there will be more IMX available, and it will either be used in incentivized programs, or deflate the market in case of direct selling.
Immutable Brings Gems Holding Program
Immutable offers incentives to hold onto IMX tokens and receive future rewards. Currently, the daily quests offered require users to just hold a balance of at least 20 IMX and collect three Gems daily.
The more Gems accrued, the more future rewards and bonuses will come to the player.
Gems will then serve to put the player in a higher tier for future IMX airdrops or additional rewards, access or exclusive deals. With this move, IMX has turned into a point-farming protocol, aiming to protect its main token from selling.
Immutable Aims to Jump-Start Web3 Recovery
Immutable has grown a significant ecosystem of games, including high-profile projects like Illuvium, or upcoming ones like Wagmi Game. But players may need a bit more to regain their enthusiasm for Web3 gaming.
To that goal, Immutable brings incentives with a value of $50M to boost participation in its portfolio of games.
Part of the rewards will also go to the holders of collectibles and NFT. Immutable has been a driver of NFT creation and trading, targeting high-profile projects as a partner.
More High-Profile Token Unlocks Coming in the Next Month
In the next month, several projects will expand their free float. Token unlocks are coming from Arbitrum (ARB), with a value of nearly $9M. ApeCoin (APE) will inject $8.89M worth of tokens.
Optimism (OP) will also grow its circulation with an additional 1.15%, after spending years as a tokenless project.
A more significant unlock is expected from Sui Foundation (SUI), which will release around 20% of its supply. The new tokens are valued at $189M based on current market prices.
Sui is one of the projects with a complex program of locked tokens. On May 31, additional data show several tiers of token owners will have their assets unlocked. Nearly 1B SUI tokens will potentially enter the market from that date onward.
In the long term, some of the remaining SUI tokens will remain locked until after 2030. Over the years, Sui will also accelerate the unlocking of vaults, in a series of events of both gradual increases and “cliff unlocks” that will inflate the supply more significantly.
