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Crypto markets are bracing for a significant supply wave this week as seven major projects prepare to unlock a combined total of nearly $200 million worth of tokens. The timing is crucial—just days before traders will see whether the highly anticipated “Christmas rally” emerges or vanishes into the ongoing crypto winter.

Weekly Overview: 568 Million Tokens Entering Circulation
Between December 15 and 21, over 568 million tokens will be released into circulation. The largest share of that comes from Aster DEX, which is unlocking more than $75 million in tokens—making it the biggest single unlock of the week.
This wave of token releases comes amid muted market reaction to recent Fed interest rate changes. Despite some relief in monetary policy, the crypto market remains in correction territory. Total crypto market cap fell 0.5% in the past 24 hours, and this new surge in token supply could exert downward pressure if demand doesn’t keep up.

Aster Leads With $75M Unlock and New Incentive Campaign
Aster, a decentralized platform for spot and perpetual trading, is unlocking 78.41 million ASTER tokens worth $75.36 million. This accounts for 3.41% of its market cap, making it the largest release in both dollar terms and token count.
The unlock coincides with the launch of Phase 5 of Aster’s “Double Harvest” incentive campaign, also running this week. To qualify, users must continuously hold at least 444 ASTER tokens throughout the campaign and maintain daily trading volume on markets excluding BTC and ETH.
In Phase 4, 6,895 participants qualified and split a $1 million reward pool, according to Aster’s official X account. Rewards from the previous phase are set to be distributed within seven business days.

LayerZero, Arbitrum, and Others to Release Over $120 Million
Here’s how the rest of the week shapes up:
🔹 LayerZero (ZRO) – Unlocking 24.68 million tokens worth $37.4 million, or 2.47% of supply and nearly 10% of its market cap.

🔹 Arbitrum (ARB) – Set to release 92.63 million tokens worth $19.78 million (0.93% of total supply).

🔹 Vana (VANA) – Unlocking 6.12 million tokens worth $17.41 million on December 16.

🔹 Yooldo Esports (ESPORTS) – Unlocking 41.91 million tokens worth $17.22 million on December 19.

🔹 STBL – Releasing 288.39 million tokens valued at $16.12 million, making up 57.7% of its market cap—the largest relative unlock of the week.

🔹 Merlin Chain (MERL) – Unlocking 36.14 million tokens worth $16.11 million on the same day as Yooldo, representing 1.72% of supply.

ASTER Struggles After 3% Weekly Drop
The ASTER token has seen a 3% decline leading up to this major unlock, trading at $0.93 at the time of writing. After hitting a high of $1.41 on November 19, it corrected down to $0.88 by early December.
Since then, bulls have defended the $0.92 zone, keeping the token from dropping to deeper support around $0.85–$0.88. Still, ASTER has struggled to climb above $1.00, often retreating toward $0.97.

Summary
This week’s mass unlock event is set to test the resilience of multiple ecosystems, including Aster, LayerZero, Arbitrum, and others. With hundreds of millions in new tokens entering the market, investor sentiment and demand will be critical. Without strong buying pressure, this wave of supply could further weigh down prices during an already fragile period.

#CryptoNews , #altcoins , #crypto , #ASTR , #CryptoAnalysis

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