On January 17, Ondo Finance will unlock about $737 million worth of its native tokens, raising the circulating supply roughly 61% as part of its scheduled release to fund the protocol and investors. According to the unlock calendar, the move follows the protocol’s token distribution timetable and opens the tokens to trading.
Of the total, about $123 million will go to private sale investors, including Pantera Capital and Founders Fund, while roughly $614 million is allocated for protocol development and ecosystem growth. The distributions reflect pre-set vesting designed to support project operations and future expansion.
The ONDO token serves as the protocol’s governance token and lets holders vote on changes to parameters and smart contracts. Data shows the protocol holds just over $2 billion in deposits, backing the assets available to users.
Token unlocks do not always lead to immediate selling; some holders keep tokens if they expect future gains (Ed. note: unlocks can still increase market volatility). Over-the-counter deals often shift locked tokens before public trading, affecting on-chain supply.
Those private OTC trades can be risky, as past mediation frauds have shown in the market. See a recent reported fraud case involving OTC deals brokers.
Since the previous January unlock, ONDO’s price has dropped about 68%. The protocol’s next scheduled unlock is set for January 2027.
