The Pyth Network token continued to face selling pressure on Sunday, as investors braced for a massive token unlock event set for May 20.
Trading at $0.150, Pyth has dropped to its lowest level since May 9 and now sits 72% below its November 2023 peak. The looming token unlock is widely seen as a bearish catalyst, stoking concerns about further downward pressure.
According to CoinMarketCap, the Pyth Network is set to release 5.66 billion tokens—valued at approximately $333 million—into circulation. This represents a staggering 58% of the current float. The newly unlocked tokens will be allocated to early private investors, publisher incentives, ecosystem expansion, and ongoing protocol development.
Pyth Network, which has a total maximum supply of 10 billion tokens, currently has only 36% of that supply circulating. Following this unlock, two final vesting events are scheduled for May 2026 and May 2027.
Token unlocks are typically perceived as negative events by the market. A sudden influx of tokens, especially in the absence of strong demand, often leads to increased selling pressure and declining prices.
Despite the current volatility, Pyth remains a major player in the oracle space. It ranks as the third-largest oracle provider in the cryptocurrency ecosystem, with a total value secured (TVS) of $8.38 billion. Only Chainlink ($43 billion) and Chronicle ($8.40 billion) boast higher totals.
Pyth delivers critical infrastructure to decentralized applications, offering services such as real-time price feeds, random number generation for smart contracts, and mechanisms to reduce miner extractable value (MEV). The protocol is integrated with leading DeFi platforms, including Kamino Lend, Ethereal, Suilend, and NAVI Lending.
While Pyth Network’s long-term utility remains strong, investor focus in the short term is squarely on the upcoming token unlock, which may continue to weigh on its price in the days ahead.
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