The team behind decentralized exchange Hyperliquid (DEX) on Saturday revealed the unlocking of 1.75 million HYPE tokens for its developers and key contributors, worth over $60.4 million at the time of writing.
Saturday’s token unlocking was announced earlier and is part of the HYPE vesting schedule, According to to the pseudonymous creator of Hyperliquid, iliensinc, who celebrated the one-year anniversary of the historic Hyperliquid token airdrop and generation. He said:
“For perspective, approximately 270 million tokens were fully unlocked on November 29, 2024 in the largest airdrop in history, measured at today’s market value at approximately $9.5 billion. There is no opportunity for investors to unlock because Hyperliquid has never raised any outside capital.”
The unlocking has sparked fear of potential selling pressure that could impact HYPE’s market price, which is down about 4.6% at the time of writing.
Hyperliquid airdrops and token generation were hailed as a groundbreaking debut in the cryptocurrency industry that transformed product launches, touting a community-centric model that rewarded early adopters, developers and users as opposed to venture capitalists.
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Unlocking Hyperliquid tokens is already priced
“Even if a small team swears not to sell, there is nothing stopping them from doing so” – BitMEX cryptocurrency exchange founder and market analyst Arthur Hayes he said.
HYPE token holders must expect a non-zero chance of daily selling pressure, which has already been priced in by the market and reflected in the decline in HYPE since September, Hayes added.
The HYPE price is down approximately 42% from its all-time high of approximately $59.40 reached in September and is trading well below its 200-day moving average, a critical support level.
HYPE began falling on September 19, before the historic market crash in October that wiped out some altcoins of up to 95% of their value.
The token fell approximately 54% in one day during the October 10 market crash, but rebounded to the $40 level within two days of the crash.
Analysts and cryptocurrency industry executives praised Hyperliquid for its revenue generation and the platform’s ability to handle $330 billion in monthly trading volume with a diminutive team of developers.
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