Over $5.5 billion of cryptocurrencies are set to be unlocked in January, with ONDO, BGB, HYPE, and TRUMP tokens making up some of this month’s biggest releases.
According to Tokenomist’s token unlock data tracker, token unlocks are expected to exceed $5.5 billion in January. Approximately $2.5 billion will be released through cliff unlocking. This means that the tokens are unlocked at once. An additional $3 billion will be put into circulation through linear releases, distributing tokens gradually over time and creating a non-rapid supply increase.
Vesting of cryptoassets is the process of locking up an allocation of tokens and releasing them over time to prevent premature or sudden increases in circulating supply. These schedules often include initial lock-ups followed by periodic unlocks to align long-term incentives while managing market impacts.
Token unlocking is a routine part of cryptocurrency vesting mechanisms, but large releases can impact price trends in the short term when overall market liquidity is thin or sentiment is fragile.
Related: Memecoin enters 2026 with 23% market cap
Top 4 unlocks account for approximately $2 billion in January releases
The four biggest token unlocks this month include Ondo (ONDO), Bitget Token (BGB), Hyperliquid (HYPE), and Official Trump (TRUMP).
Together they provide about $1.94 billion in supply, or 35% of the $5.5 billion scheduled to be unlocked in January.
Ondo leads the group with 1.9 billion tokens unlocked on January 19, worth more than $840 million at current market value. According to Tokenomist data, releases are allocated to founders, team members, the community, and individual investors.
BGB is also scheduled to drop 140 million tokens worth nearly $500 million on January 26th. Of this, 80 million tokens will be allocated to teams and 60 million tokens will be used for branding and promotion.
Hyperliquid plans to unlock 12.4 million tokens worth $327 million for core contributors on Tuesday, making it the closest unlock in the group. It is also the third most released release of the month.
As of this writing, HYPE is trading at $26.41, up 5.7% in the past 24 hours. Price data suggests near-term bullish momentum despite upcoming token releases.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump’s official meme coin is set to release 50 million tokens worth $270 million on January 18th for its founders and team members.
Although smaller than ONDO and BGB, both unlocks are still significant given their market profile and still contributed by significant amounts to the overall supply increase in January.
magazine: Chinese users resort to ‘U-card’ to circumvent cryptocurrency rules: Asia Express
