The price of WLD, the governance token for the Worldcoin protocol founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, has bucked its overall downward trend, after Tools for Humanity, a software firm developing Worldcoin, announced its recent executive hires from top technology firms such as X, Google, Apple, Meta, and Tesla.
While WLD has decreased 48.8% over the past 30 days, Worldcoin’s governance token on Wednesday has increased from as low as $2.19 to as high as $2.52, a 15% increase, before settling at $2.37 at presstime, making its market cap $620 million, per CoinGecko.
However, the 24-hour jump in WLD’s price comes a few weeks before the start of increased daily token unlockings. Data from blockchain research firm Messari shows that Worldcoin daily unlocks currently stands at 3.19 million WLD, worth about $7.91 million, but by July 24, 2024, the figure is set to more than double to 6.61 million WLD tokens, worth about $16.39 million per day.
Token unlocks, similar to the vesting schedules of shares for traditional companies, refer to the gradual release of cryptocurrencies, previously frozen or restricted to prevent large-scale selling during the early stages of a project. Token unlocks unleash liquidity and are widely associated with bearish sentiments as a result of the increased availability of these coins.
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Unlocks for Tools for Humanity and Initial Development Team
According to Worldcoin’s tokenomics found in its whitepaper, the daily token unlockings to several entities such as the initial development team and Tools For Humanity investors are scheduled to occur 12 months after the protocol’s July 24, 2023 launch.
“The tokens that have already been allocated to past and current team members will be contractually locked up for 12 months after launch and are then unlocked on a daily basis evenly over the following 24 months,” the whitepaper states about tokens earmarked to the initial development team.
Per Messari, Tools for Humanity investors and its reserve will collectively receive 2.07 million tokens daily, worth about $5.16 million, while the initial development team will pocket 1.34 million WLD, roughly $3.32 million.
In the previous 30 days, $237 million worth of WLD have been unlocked, and in the next 30 days, $314 million will be let loose.
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A token’s unlocked supply refers to the cryptocurrencies that are either part of the circulating supply where they don’t have any particular transfer restrictions or unlocked but “subject to the protocol’s governance discretion on their rate of release into the circulating supply,” according to Worldcoin’s whitepaper.
