Token

A token is a claim issued on a blockchain, and almost everything that matters about one is in its supply schedule rather than its chart: how many exist, how many can be sold today, who holds the rest, and when that changes. This desk covers issuance, unlocks, listings, buybacks and the governance rights — real or nominal — attached to holding.

What we track on this desk

• Supply and unlocks. Vesting schedules, cliff dates and how much of a supply is genuinely circulating rather than merely unlocked.
• Distribution. Who holds what, including team and treasury allocations — the number that decides whether a governance vote means anything.
• Listings. Additions and removals at major venues, which change the liquidity available to a token overnight.
• Burns and buybacks. Reported against verifiable on-chain transactions, not announcements.
• Airdrops. Eligibility, claim rates and how much is sold immediately.

How to read a token story here

Market capitalisation is price multiplied by circulating supply, and circulating supply is frequently self-reported by the issuer. That makes market cap a claim, not a measurement, and it is the number most often used to imply a token is larger or safer than it is. Fully diluted valuation and market cap can differ by an order of magnitude; where a story turns on one of them, we say which.

Unlock coverage inverts a basic fact: unlock schedules are public and known months ahead, so an efficient market has already priced them. “Token falls ahead of unlock” is usually the market working as expected rather than a discovery. Where analysts disagree on whether an unlock was priced in, the story carries a Disputed label.

Where to go next

See the Liquidity hub for what determines whether supply can actually be sold, or the Verification Center for how publishers are counted.