TIA, the native token of data availability network Celestia, has been the second-worst performer among the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap over the past seven days, ahead of its $853 million token unlock scheduled for Oct. 30.
TIA has sunk roughly 23% from $6.24 on Sept. 25 to $4.86 at presstime, giving it a market cap of just over $1 billion and a fully diluted valuation (FDV) of $5.2 billion, according to CoinGecko. The only cryptocurrency to perform worse over that time period is identity protocol Worldcoin’s WLD. FDV refers to the theoretical market cap of a token if its entire supply is unlocked and in circulation.
The sharp price decline of TIA comes less than a month before 175.56 million TIA tokens will be unlocked, representing roughly 82% of the current circulating supply, data from crypto research firm Messari shows. At current prices, the unlock at the end of the month is valued at $853 million.
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Given the size of the unlock plus the latest $100 million funding round announced last week, Ian Unsworth, the co-founder of crypto research firm Kairos said he thinks that investors are likely to have made money. Unsworth also told Unchained he expects volatility on the day of the unlock.
Who’s Receiving Token Unlocks
Sixty-five million TIA tokens worth about $311 million has been allocated to participants in Celestia’s Series A and B rounds, while $278 million was earmarked for initial core contributors. The remaining $251 million has been dedicated to seed round backers, per Messari.
According to a 2022 announcement from the Celestia Foundation, Bain Capital Crypto and Polychain Capital led the Series A and B rounds, with Placeholder, Galaxy, and Jump Crypto participating. Spokespersons from Bain Capital Crypto and Galaxy did not respond to requests for comment for this story.
The upcoming event is the start of monthly unlocks that will continue over the next three years, according to Messari.
- From Nov. 2024 to Oct. 2025: Approximately 30 million TIA will be unlocked per month.
- From Nov. 2025 to Oct. 2026: A minimum of 9.7 million tokens will unlocked monthly
- From Nov. 2026 to Oct. 2027: Over 5.1 million TIA will be unlocked on a monthly basis.
Developers who use the Celestia network pay transaction fees denominated in TIA. Users can also delegate their TIA to a validator for a portion of the validator’s staking rewards, according to the protocol’s documentation. Additionally, stakers of TIA are granted rights vote on governance proposals that can change the network’s parameters.
