Float-Doubling Unlock
A float-doubling unlock is a single scheduled release equal to or greater than 100% of circulating supply, so the event at least doubles the tokens available to trade. It is defined against the float rather than against dollars, which is why the events that qualify are usually modest in dollar terms and disappear from an unlock calendar ranked by value.
TradFi parallel: Like a secondary offering that issues more shares than are currently trading, except the buyers were decided years in advance and the price is set against whatever depth the order book happens to have that morning.
Key Takeaways
- 01Defined against float rather than dollars: a release at or above 100% of circulating supply at least doubles tradeable supply in a single event
- 02They cluster at first cliff expiries: PROVE's 104.17% release closed a 12-month post-TGE cliff with only about 20% of supply unlocked beforehand
- 03They are usually cheap in dollar terms because the float they double is small, as with CONX's $17.31M at 115.00% and WET's $14.45M at 111.59%, but the dollar size scales with the float
- 04Value-ranked calendars and dollar thresholds hide them, while Bitcoin's $914.79M August 2026 emission ranked first on value at 0.07% of float
- 05Destination decides the impact: WET's release went to Foundation, Labs and Ecosystem, PROVE's to Community, Founder/Team, Private Investors and Reserve at the end of a 12-month cliff
- 06Check percent of total supply alongside it: JTO's December 2024 cliff was 103.7% of circulating supply but only 13.6% of total supply
How It Works
Percent of circulating supply and dollar value rank unlock events in almost opposite orders, and a float-doubling release is where the divergence is widest. In August 2026 Bitcoin topped the combined unlock leaderboard at $914.79M, which represented 0.07% of circulating supply: a non-event in float terms, and evidence of depth rather than dilution. The same month, CONX released $35.21M at 115.00% of circulating supply and PROVE $35.22M at 104.17%, each unlocking more tokens than the protocol had in circulation. Tokenomist's monthly reports say this directly, describing CONX as the most structurally extreme reading in the dataset and noting that the modest dollar value does not reduce the significance of a 115% expansion.
A reading above 100% is a statement about the schedule rather than about project quality: it says an unusually large tranche was pointed at an unusually small float, and the two conditions most often arrive together at a first cliff expiry, though a float thin enough can print the reading more than once. Succinct's August 5, 2026 release closed a 12-month post-TGE cliff with roughly 20% of total supply unlocked beforehand, and Tokenomist called it one of the most dilutive single-day releases of 2026 relative to float, citing a concentrated holder base and a thin float-to-FDV ratio going in. First cliff, thin float and concentrated holders is the combination that separates a float-doubling unlock from a merely large one.
The dollar value usually understates the event. Market cap is price multiplied by circulating supply, so a thin float produces a small market cap, and a release worth more than that float often prints a small dollar number. Usually is not always, because the dollar size scales with the float being doubled: a token with a larger float can double it and still print a large number. CONX's June 2026 cliff was $17.31M at 115.00% of circulating supply; WET's June 9, 2026 release was $14.45M at 111.59%; LAVA released $2.37M at 40.91% of float. Tokenomist's June report makes the same point about NEWT, a 64.92% expansion where the dollar value understates the structural pressure. On a value-ranked calendar these sit hundreds of places below releases with a fraction of their float impact, so rank by percent of circulating supply whenever the question is dilution rather than notional size.
What separates a severe float-doubling unlock from a survivable one is where the tokens go and how deep the book is. WET's 111.59% release flowed to Foundation, Labs and Ecosystem buckets rather than to public holders, which turns the question into how much gets deployed into incentives, liquidity and market making rather than sold. PROVE's went to Community, Founder/Team, Private Investors and Reserve, giving founders and private investors liquid ownership for the first time after a full year of lockup, which is alignment and overhang at once. Percent of total supply is the sanity check on both: JTO's December 2024 cliff of $372.6M was 103.7% of circulating supply but only 13.6% of total supply, a reminder that the float multiple can be extreme while the share of the token's lifetime issuance is ordinary.
Real World Examples
PROVE: a cliff expiry that doubles the float
View →Succinct's August 5, 2026 unlock released $35.22M, equal to 104.17% of circulating supply, closing a 12-month post-TGE cliff with roughly 20% of total supply unlocked beforehand. Tokenomist called it one of the most dilutive single-day releases of 2026 relative to float, with overhang risk amplified by a concentrated holder base and a thin float-to-FDV ratio.
CONX: the most extreme reading in the dataset, twice
CONX released $17.31M at 115.00% of circulating supply in June 2026 and $35.21M at the same 115.00% reading in August 2026. Tokenomist described it as the most structurally anomalous %Circ figure in the entire dataset, a signal about how concentrated the pre-existing float was relative to scheduled issuance rather than about the dollar amount.
WET: a fully public launch with a foundation-led doubling
View →HumidiFi's WET, a fixed 1B supply launched in December 2025 through Jupiter's DTF platform in a fully public, no-VC distribution, unlocked $14.45M on June 9, 2026, equal to 111.59% of circulating supply. The tokens went to Foundation, Labs and Ecosystem buckets, so the operative question was deployment into incentives and liquidity rather than immediate distribution to sellers.
JTO: the same structure at a much larger dollar scale
View →Jito's December 2024 cliff released $372.6M, 103.7% of circulating supply and 13.6% of total supply, the largest unlock of that month by value. It shows the two readings pulling apart in the other direction: a headline dollar figure large enough to lead the calendar, an extreme float multiple, and a routine share of lifetime issuance.
BTC: the inverse case, and why value ranking misleads
View →Bitcoin's August 2026 linear emission of $914.79M topped the combined unlock leaderboard by a wide margin at 0.07% of circulating supply. Tokenomist reads this as a non-event in float terms, reflecting market depth rather than dilution risk. Ranked by dollars it is the month's biggest unlock; ranked by float impact it does not register.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the tradeable float literally double on the day?
The scheduled supply does. Whether it trades is a separate question that depends on the recipients: tokens released to a foundation or ecosystem bucket may be deployed into liquidity and incentives over months, and vested recipients often claim later than the unlock date. The unlock defines the ceiling on new supply, not the amount that reaches the order book.
Why is the dollar value of these unlocks so small?
Because market cap is price multiplied by circulating supply. A token whose float is small enough for one tranche to exceed it usually has a small market cap, so an event worth more than 100% of that float often prints a modest dollar figure. CONX's 115.00% expansion was $17.31M in June 2026, while Bitcoin's 0.07% month was $914.79M. It is a tendency rather than a rule: the dollar size scales with the float being doubled, which is how JTO's 103.7% cliff still came to $372.6M.
How do I find float-doubling unlocks on a calendar?
Sort by percent of circulating supply rather than by value. Tokenomist's monthly reports treat 20% of circulating supply as the key dilution benchmark and call out every token above it, with float-doubling events sitting at the extreme end of that distribution. Value ranking answers a different question: it surfaces the events large enough to matter to the whole market, which is why Bitcoin's 0.07% month leads that list while a 115% expansion sits far below it.
Is a float-doubling unlock automatically bearish?
No, and the destination is the main reason. A release to foundation and ecosystem buckets, or the end of a first cliff that finally gives founders and early backers liquid ownership, is not equivalent to a private-investor tranche hitting a thin book. Read the vested allocations, the depth available, and whether the market was already pricing the token on fully diluted value rather than on its float.
Related Terms
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