On-chain data shows that the Polygon team has received its last batch of vested tokens, sparking speculation on how this might potentially impact the price of MATIC.
Following the Polygon (MATIC) offering in 2019, the team behind the project received a percentage of vested tokens to be unlocked over the next five years. Locked in a vesting contract, the last batch of tokens were recently released, on-chain data shows.
The Polygon Foundation received 273.3 million tokens (worth $253 million ) in the last transaction, which occurred at around 03:36 PM +UTC on February 21. Following this unlock, the vesting contract is now empty, setting a new milestone for the blockchain project.
The latest and final unlock means that MATIC’s circulating supply is now over 96% of its total supply. Of the 10 billion tokens for the cryptocurrency, 9.61 billion MATIC is now in circulation, with the rest evidently on track to unlock over time for users who stake MATIC to secure the network.
It is noteworthy that the Polygon Foundation still holds the freshly unlocked tokens at the time of writing. However, the large transfer has sparked speculation on what it could mean for the price of the cryptocurrency in the short and long terms.
What the Final Unlock Could Mean for Prices?
The Polygon Foundation is a steward of the blockchain project and typically uses its allocations to meet its operational demands and other community incentives. Hence, the freshly released tokens may, over time, be released into the tradable market.
Nonetheless, any such actions could have only a potential short-term impact on the price of the asset as the Foundation looks to liquidate its holdings in a manner that does not impact prices negatively in a significant way.
At the same time, being the last unlock means the team may have a greater incentive to hold the asset, as it shows their commitment to the project’s long-term success.
However, a final unlock is generally considered bullish for cryptocurrency projects. It means that the asset has less selling pressure as the team will no longer have more tokens to liquidate over time. Only a handful of projects in the top 20 coins by market capitalization have reached that milestone.
Meanwhile, MATIC has surged 8% in the past week, briefly climbing above the $1 mark for the first time since last December. The token has since retreated to $0.97 at the time of writing, but is projected by popular analyst Ali Martinez to soar in the coming weeks.