The Optimism Foundation, in a recent announcement, has disclosed the sale of 19.5 million OP tokens, valued at approximately $90 million (about R1.68 billion using the current exchange rate), to an anonymous purchaser. Following this announcement, the OP token’s price has managed to hold steady at around $4.57 (approximately R85.48), maintaining its recent upward trajectory. However, this sale occurs as Optimism braces for a significant token unlock event slated for the end of March, which could potentially impact the token’s market value negatively.
On Friday, the Optimism Foundation made public through its website that it had conducted a private sale of almost 19.5 million OP tokens. These tokens are now under a two-year lockup, during which the buyer has the option to delegate them for governance purposes to parties not affiliated with the purchase.
This move to sell tokens from the OP Token treasury, which constitutes 30% of the initial supply allocated for the Foundation’s operational budget, has raised eyebrows within the crypto community, especially among influencers. The Foundation has indicated that this will lead to several transactions transferring OP tokens from the Treasury in the following days, without revealing the identity of the buyer.
With a token unlock scheduled for March 29, around 24.16 million OP tokens, currently worth an estimated $110.65 million (about R2.07 billion), are set to be released into the market. This release, accounting for 2.40% of the circulating supply, is anticipated to exert downward pressure on the token’s price by increasing the available supply.
Despite these potentially unsettling developments, the OP token has remained resilient, failing to show any significant negative price movements. At present, trading at $4.547 (approximately R85.05), the token is on track to end the week with a 15% gain. This performance indicates that, while there are concerns about the upcoming unlock event’s impact on the price, optimism among investors and the broader South African crypto community remains undiminished.
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