By
Kseniia Klichova
March 4th, 2024
Despite a broader market uptrend, The Sandbox’s SAND token dipped around 3%.
Several Web3 projects have been set for token unlock sessions in February. Tokens from gaming projects like The Sandbox are leading the pack.
205 Million SAND Token Unlocked
According to data from the crypto token tracking platform TokenUnlocks, 205.59 million SAND tokens were released into circulation on Wednesday at 9:00 AM (UTC). This is roughly $99.2 million in fiat value flowing into the ecosystem of the virtual reality gaming platform.
TokenUnlock revealed that 71.2M SAND (about $33.25 million), or 3.09% of the project’s market cap, was allocated to The Sandbox team. 37.5 million tokens (roughly $17.5 million) were allotted to project advisors, while 96.84 million SAND tokens – worth $45.2 million – were kept in the company’s reserves.
Today’s 205.59 million SAND tokens release represents 9.19% of the project’s circulating supply.
According to TokenUnlocks, The Sandbox has a total market supply of 3 billion SAND tokens. 74.59% of this supply is in the public’s hands.
Apecoin to Unlock Tokens on February 16
ApeCoin is another asset scheduled for more token unlock this month. Its scheduled date is February 16, 2024.
According to TokenUnlocks, the Ethereum-based token for the BAYC project will release 15.6 million APE tokens – worth $24.65 million – under the ‘cliff unlock’ category. This token release equals 2.61% of the token’s circulating supply.
A ‘cliff unlock’ event occurs when a project releases a preset token amount at once instead of in batches. It’s different from a ‘linear unlock’ event, which occurs when a blockchain project releases its tokens daily and in preset batches.
A cursory look at ApeCoin’s token emission schedule shows that 2.22 million APE (or $3.29 million) will be allocated to the Yuga Labs founders.
Early ApeCoin contributors, or Project ‘Launch Contributors 3,’ will be gifted 833,000 plus ApeCoin tokens worth $1.23 million.
Additionally, an unidentified charity organization will get 277,000 plus tokens worth $411,000, and the remaining two will be spread across two more allocations.
Manta Network for Linear Unlock Events
Another project set for a similar cliff unlock event is the Oasis Network. On February 18, Oasis Network will release 171 million ROSE tokens worth $22.15 million. The digital asset will be split unevenly among core contributors, the Oasis Network community, and partners’ reserves.
On the other hand, the Manta Network is scheduled to release 7.98 million MANTA tokens, split between cliff and linear unlock events. The cliff unlock category will see 6.67 million MANTA tokens, worth $19.47 million, offered up for public purchase. The remaining 1.21 million MANTA tokens will be distributed to the ecosystem, community, and Foundation Treasury.
In total, $175 million worth of digital assets could enter the crypto market in the coming weeks.
Token unlock events usually occur when restricted or locked crypto assets are released into circulation. They are used as incentives to promote long-term commitment to the project, but a study from the Tie found that they could negatively affect asset prices in the short term.
For context, The Sandbox’s SAND token dipped 3.16% in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap. Despite a broader market uptrend, the asset trades for $0.4651 per token. The likely reason could be the increased supply with little demand to pick it up.
Nonetheless, the broader market surge could eventually rub off on tokens recently unlocked in the long run.