DYdX pushes back $282 million of token unlocks for investors, employees to December from February

Decentralized exchange dYdX delayed its token unlocks for investors, employees and consultants to Dec. 1 from Feb. 3, according to a note sent out to investors obtained by The Block.

The exchange was set to release 150 million tokens ($282 million) to investors, employees and consultants next month, a move that would have doubled the current supply — with more tokens to be unlocked over the following months. Postponing the unlocks will shift a significant part of the impact to the end of the year.

Under the new schedule, the 150 million tokens — 30% of the 500 million tokens destined for investors, employees and consultants in total — will be unlocked on Dec. 1, according to the note. After that happens, 40% of the total tokens will unlock monthly over the following six months, then 20% over the following year and 10% the year after that.

DYdX is currently based on StarkEx, a zero-knowledge proof-powered layer running on top of Ethereum, but it’s in the process of abandoning this platform in favor of its own application-specific blockchain in the Cosmos ecosystem. 

The price of dydx has rallied in the last few days, rising to $1.88 today from around $1.30 on Jan. 19. The token is now at its highest point since early December. Tokens in the wider crypto market have also grown during that time, but typically by much less.

Update: dYdX confirmed The Block's reporting in a Jan. 25 tweet. It contained additional details that the token unlocks for employees and consultants were also getting delayed and this information has been added to the story.