More than $657 million worth of cryptocurrency tokens are scheduled to be unlocked and enter circulation during the first week of January 2026. This significant influx of new supply is expected to inject fresh liquidity into the market but also carries the potential to trigger price volatility and swings across several major projects.
The three largest unlocks this week come from the Hyperliquid (HYPE), Ethena (ENA), and Aptos (APT) ecosystems. Hyperliquid, a high-performance decentralized perpetual futures exchange built on its own Layer 1 blockchain, will unlock 12.46 million HYPE tokens on January 6. Valued at approximately $330.51 million, this release accounts for 3.6% of the current circulating supply and will be awarded entirely to core contributors. This follows a previous unlock of 9.92 million tokens just last week.
Ethena, a synthetic dollar protocol on Ethereum, unlocked 171.88 million ENA tokens on January 5. Worth $42.91 million, these tokens represent 2.37% of the released supply. The distribution sees 93.75 million tokens going to core contributors and 78.13 million to investors.
Aptos, a Layer 1 blockchain, is scheduled to unlock 11.31 million APT tokens on January 11. Valued at $21.94 million, this represents 0.70% of its circulating supply. The allocation will be distributed to core contributors (3.96 million APT), the community (3.21 million), investors (2.81 million), and the Aptos Foundation (1.33 million).
Beyond these three major events, other projects including Linea (LINEA), Movement (MOVE), and IOTA (IOTA) are also set to see new supply enter the market. Analysts note that such unlocks can increase sell pressure as early holders, teams, and investors may take profits, but they also boost market liquidity. The market's ability to absorb this new supply will be a key test of current investor sentiment, with heavy selling potentially signaling caution and smooth absorption reflecting more bullish confidence.
