Ethena Unveils Major $ENA Unlock, $741M in Tokens Released

A significant event in the cryptocurrency market occurred yesterday when Ethena , a leading decentralized finance (DeFi) project, unlocked a phenomenal 2.07 billion $ENA tokens. This represents a huge uptick in deposits to our major trading partners. To look at this rationally, the unlocked tokens (less than 45% of which are registered in exchange wallets) represent about 39.17% of the $ENA tokens in circulation; so people were naturally concerned. Bear in mind, though, that just 25% of the unlocked tokens are supposed to have any effect on the $ENA price, and only when they are used in trading. Oh, and also remember: to look at this rationally. According to @Tokenomist_ai , #Ethena unlocked 2.07B $ENA ($740.71M, 39.17% of the circulating supply) yesterday. In the past 2 days, 12 wallets deposited 125M $ENA ($45M) to #Binance , #Bybit and #FalconX . pic.twitter.com/q4zimVjwI4 — Lookonchain (@lookonchain) March 6, 2025 Massive Token Movement to Major Exchanges The recent unlocking of $ENA comes during an uptick in activity around the token. Since late last week, a number of wallets and addresses have begun transferring and depositing large amounts of $ENA into major centralized exchanges like Binance, Bybit, and FalconX. In just the last two days, 12 different wallets have made sizable deposits of $ENA totaling around 125 million tokens, worth an impressive $45 million, onto those platforms. Concerns are emerging, meanwhile, among investors that all this $ENA hitting the market could create some serious downward price momentum. In the last 18 hours, the multi-signature wallet of Ethena Labs has been very lively indeed, transferring a colossal 94.16 million ENA tokens—worth around $33.7 million—to no fewer than 33 different addresses. These serial movements appear to form part of a much larger planned release of ENA tokens, some 2.07 billion of which are expected to be unlocked over a not-to-distant horizon. The wallet distributing these ENA tokens to so many different places obviously raises a gigantic question mark over the project’s tokenomics. These transfers are remarkable for their sheer scale and for involving major players in the process. It appears that a lot of the freshly unlocked $ENA tokens are making their way to a handful of concentrated exchanges and wallets, which sets us up for some short-term price action. Key Players and Distribution of $ENA Among the recent recipients of transfers of $ENA, two names stand out for their size and significance. OKX Ventures, the investment arm of leading exchange OKX, received a hefty 17.87 million $ENA tokens. This is a substantial and strategic move in terms of securing a foothold in a project like Ethena and suggests that OKX, as a major player in the crypto space, may have future intentions to engage with Ethena or its ecosystem. Alongside OKX Ventures, Michael Egorov of Curve Finance received 2.8 million $ENA tokens. Egorov is a well-known name in the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector and one that adds to the credibility of $ENA and the Ethena project in terms of their potential and future success. Both OKX Ventures and Michael Egorov have deposited their $ENA tokens on Binance, indicating that these tokens might soon be available for trading or could be employed as liquidity. Given their excellent track record and deep involvement in DeFi, the presence of either one of these high-profile individuals could have a meaningful impact on the near-term trajectory of $ENA’s price and its position in the broader crypto market. Market Reactions and Price Dynamics Currently, decentralized exchanges (DEXs) or Binance have been given a total of 59.3 million $ENA tokens worth approximately $21.08 million. The average price of these tokens has been at $0.355, according to Dune Analytics. However, this average price seems to indicate that market participants are selling. They seem to be selling because they expect the large supply of newly unlocked tokens to depress the price. And in fact that’s what seems to be happening. In the past 18 hours, @ethena_labs ' multi-sig transferred 94.16M $ENA ($33.7M) to 33 addresses, likely part of this week's 2.07B $ENA unlock ($741M, 39.17% of circ. supply). So far, 59.3M $ENA ($21.08M) has been sold on DEXs or sent to #Binance at an average price of $0.355.… pic.twitter.com/IULgQBJCbj — Spot On Chain (@spotonchain) March 6, 2025 The $ENA token’s distribution, especially over such a short span of time, might well create some price volatility as the tokens find their proper value in the market. But, really, the situation is not as dynamic as it might first seem. The multi-sig wallet from which these funds are being distributed holds actually quite a bit of $ENA. And that put together with the half billion tokens in the reserve wallet means the price dynamics that underpin the $ENA scene are pretty stable. The Road Ahead for $ENA and Ethena Labs As we move ahead, the continued distribution of $ENA tokens looks set to prompt a number of market reactions as investors process all those new tokens. And while we fully expect Ethena’s long-term game plan to kick in soon and stabilize things, for the time being, there’s no sugarcoating what’s likely to happen to the $ETHENA price when investors see a new torrent of tokens being dumped on them. As $ENA gets into the hands of more investors and prominent market players, its future will almost certainly pay homage to the stock trading laws of supply and demand. Lots of newly unlocked tokens might flood the market. The next few weeks will tell if Ethena can bolster investor confidence enough for $ENA to withstand that onslaught. If the price holds up, that might very well be a good sign. If, on the contrary, the price and the market behave in a manner reminiscent of the express elevator scene in “The Tower of Terror,” that also might be a good sign in the sense that it doesn’t seem like the price is dramatically unfurling any flags of investor confidence. To sum up, the Ethena project and its investors find themselves at a crucial juncture with the release of 2.07 billion ENA tokens locked up for two years. High-profile venture capitalists got involved, and now a significant quantity of the tokens is heading for cryptocurrency exchanges. What could happen next? Well, the project could become more volatile, or we could see a breakout. The crucial thing here is how Ethena manages itself at this new stage in its life cycle. Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any services. Follow us on Twitter @nulltxnews to stay updated with the latest Crypto, NFT, AI, Cybersecurity, Distributed Computing, and Metaverse news ! Image Source: mottjordan/ 123RF // Image Effects by Colorcinch