WhiteBIT, Aptos, Arbitrum lead $1.6 billion token unlocks next week

The crypto market will witness another round of token unlocks next week, totaling $1.6 billion. The unlock pressure is led by WhiteBIT (WBT), Aptos (APT) and Arbitrum (ARB), which are set to add $1.2 billion, $62 million and $34 million to their circulating supply, respectively.

Crypto market braces for $1.6 billion unlock

The crypto market is prepared for another round of cliff unlocks next week, totaling $1.6 billion. Several tokens will witness a hike in their circulating supply, including WhiteBIT (WBT), Aptos (APT), Arbitrum (ARB), Solayer (LAYER), Doodles (DOOD), Starknet (STRK), Immutable (IMX) and Sei (SEI).

Cliff unlocks are events where a project releases tokens to investors, community members or advisors, potentially triggering increased volatility. Historically, cliff unlocks often result in price declines if no corresponding demand matches the new supply.

WhiteBIT (WBT) will witness the highest supply injection, adding $1.2 billion worth of its token into circulation, which accounts for 27% of its supply. The utility token currently trades at $30, just shy of its all-time high of $31.28 — a feat achieved in March. WBT is up nearly 1% on the day, with weekly gains of over 4%.

Aptos (APT) and Arbitrum (ARB) will also add $62 million and $34 million to their circulating supply. APT is up nearly 4% at the time of writing, rising from a decline to $4.60 on Wednesday. Likewise, ARB is up over 5%, stretching its weekly gains to nearly 10%.

The rise follows an on-chain vote that pushed the Arbitrum DAO into the next phase of its Stable Treasury Endowment Program (STEP). In this stage, the DAO plans to invest 35 million ARB — around $11.6 million — into tokenized US treasuries, the Arbitrum Foundation announced on Thursday.

The tokens will be invested into different real world assets (RWAs), with 35% going into Franklin Templeton’s FOBXX, another 35% into Spiko’s USTBL, while the remaining 30% will be allocated to WisdomTree’s WTGXX.

Other tokens with cliff unlock include SEI, LAYER, STRK and IMX, which will increase their supply by $13 million, $32 million, $21 million and $16 million, respectively.

The unlock follows a rally in the crypto market where altcoins have jumped by an average of ~10% within the past 48 hours.