Aptos holders are preparing for the release of 4.5 million APT tokens on April 12th, worth $53 million and representing 0.454% of the total supply.
Leading up to this event, APT has outperformed Bitcoin and the broader market, with a YTD gain of 235% compared to Bitcoin’s 82%. In the past month alone, APT has surged nearly 12%.
What’s Next for APT?
Token unlocks are a popular way to gradually release locked assets into the market over time. This event typically increases supply, leading to a decline in value and allowing early investors or project team members to liquidate their initial investment, adding to selling pressure. It remains to be seen if APT will buck this trend.
The last APT unlock of 4.5 million tokens occurred on February 12th, causing the price to tank. Only a little over 15% of the tokens has been unlocked so far, with nearly half dedicated to the team, foundation, and investors. Even if the unlocks have a bearish effect on APT, newer investors may push up the price.
A Controversial Start
Aptos is a layer 1 blockchain network based on the Move programming language that competes with Solana and Cardano. Meta’s Diem leadership team members, Mo Shaikh and Avery Ching, created the decentralized version of the abandoned blockchain project. Aptos launched its mainnet in October 2020 after receiving capital injections from firms such as Parafi, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), FTX, Multicoin Capital, and Binance. However, the launch was not without challenges, with transaction per second speeds reportedly lower than Bitcoin’s.
