DoubleZero released about 1.66 billion 2Z tokens on October 2 as the project’s one-year vesting cliff expired, putting roughly $113 to $114 million of new supply on the market in a single event. The release equals about 16.6 percent of the token’s total supply of 10 billion and lifts circulating supply by as much as 47.7 percent, according to unlock calendar data.
The cliff has been the dominant topic in the token’s community for weeks. Unlocks of this size are rare, and the math here is unforgiving: when float expands by nearly half overnight, every existing holder’s stake is diluted unless demand absorbs the new tokens. Traders on market data platforms have flagged the event as the primary test for price stability, with sentiment split between long-term believers and those expecting sell pressure.
How the schedule works
The October 2 event is the first milestone in a longer plan. After the cliff, the token unlocks gradually over a three-year linear vesting schedule that runs through October 2029, covering allocations to core contributors, the team and institutional backers. Linear releases drip supply into the market in smaller amounts, which markets tend to handle better than cliffs, but the initial shock sets the tone for how the rest of the schedule is priced.
Estimates of the released value vary between $113 and $114 million depending on the price snapshot used, a reminder that dollar figures on unlock calendars move with the token itself. What stays fixed is the token count: 1.655 billion 2Z, which is 34.78 percent of what currently circulates and 17.8 percent of total supply. Some calendars, weighting the numbers differently, put the circulating-supply impact closer to 48 percent. Either way, few events in crypto this month touch as large a share of any token’s float.
| Measure | Amount |
|---|---|
| Tokens unlocked Oct 2 | About 1.66 billion 2Z |
| Estimated value | Roughly $113-114 million |
| Share of circulating supply | 34.78 percent |
| Share of total supply | 16.55 percent |
| Float increase | Up to 47.7 percent |
| Linear vesting runs through | October 2029 |
What DoubleZero actually does
DoubleZero runs a dedicated fiber network for high-frequency trading and blockchain infrastructure, positioning itself as a private alternative to the public internet for latency-sensitive traffic. The idea is that firms which pay for co-located servers and microwave links in traditional markets want the same edges in crypto, and a purpose-built network can sell them that. Solana validators and trading firms were the first customers, which tied the project closely to the Solana ecosystem from the start.
Since August the protocol has expanded its market data feeds, adding Kalshi, Hyperliquid and Phoenix data for trading firms alongside the Solana data it provided from the beginning. That business expansion is the bull case: the token sits at the center of a network whose customer base is growing into prediction markets, perpetuals venues and on-chain order books. If usage keeps climbing, token demand has somewhere to come from besides speculators.
The bear case is simpler arithmetic. Even a healthy project struggles to absorb supply that grows this fast. Comparable cliff unlocks across crypto in 2026 have typically produced weeks of drift lower rather than crashes, but the pattern depends on who receives the tokens. Early contributors and funds with large allocations are more likely sellers than insiders with long time horizons, and no disclosure requirement forces recipients to reveal their plans. Liquidity on smaller exchange listings amplifies the effect: a few percent of the released tokens sold into thin books can move the price well before the headline holders act.
October is a heavy unlock month
DoubleZero leads a crowded calendar. On October 5, Ethena releases roughly 1.4 billion ENA in one step, ending investor vesting 17 months early, and Aster has a major release the same day. Ethena’s move drew coverage earlier this week because the buyback mechanism that would absorb some of that supply is not live yet. Celestia may see one of the month’s largest unlocks on October 30 with about 175 million TIA. Trump and Pump tokens continue recurring monthly distributions worth $60.8 million and $40.3 million respectively.
The cluster matters beyond any single token. Unlock-heavy months tend to weigh on altcoin performance broadly, and October’s schedule lands just as the wider market digests a strong quarterly run in bitcoin and a choppy stretch in the smaller names. Bitcoin sits near $83,700 after a 44 percent gain over 90 days, while solana trades around $118 and XRP near $1.49. Traders watching ENA have already marked its price down ahead of the event, and 2Z saw selling pressure build in the run-up to its own date.
What happens next
For DoubleZero, the question now is whether the trading firms using its network convert into token buyers, or whether the unlock simply reprices the token to a float that better reflects the full allocation picture. Markets usually reach a new equilibrium within weeks of a cliff this large, and the three-year linear schedule that starts today gives holders time to adjust. But the first day of that schedule began with nearly half the float added at once, and history says the burden falls on demand to catch up.
Watch two things in the coming sessions: whether 2Z holds the price levels it traded at before the unlock became common knowledge, and whether the network’s usage metrics keep growing now that the overhang is out. If both hold, the event becomes a footnote. If either breaks, the 2029 vesting tail becomes a story traders revisit every month.