LayerZero unlocked on August 20: How to calculate ZRO's monthly dilution

On August 20, 2026, LayerZero will release its next monthly ZRO token

On Thursday, August 20, 2026, LayerZero will release its next monthly share of ZRO token. Depending on the data platform, the amount released this time is approximately 24.7 million to 25.7 million tokens, valued at approximately US$18.9 million to US$19.9 million. This may sound like a big event, but it's actually a repeat operation: the same process was executed on July 20, will be executed again on September 20, and has been repeated every month since the summer of 2025.

That's what makes it different from the unlock reports you usually see. One-time unlocking events can be reported as news. Monthly release is a permanent attribute of the token and can be calculated. This article takes ZRO as an example to show you how to calculate it yourself and why the amount released is almost never the amount actually entering the market.

How much was released from LayerZero lockups on August 20, 2026

LayerZero is an interoperability layer: software that allows applications to transfer value between different blockchains. According to its own statistics, about 70% of cross-chain stablecoin transfers are conducted through it. ZRO is the related token, and the total supply is fixed at 1 billion coins.

Tokenomist set the release at approximately 25.7 million ZROs and distributed them to the core contributor, namely employees of LayerZero Labs. DropsTab came up with a figure of 24.68 million ZROs worth approximately $18.88 million, and showed three different releases on the same day. As of August 16, 2026, the token price is approximately US$0.77, or approximately 0.66 euros.

Two numbers can clarify the relationship: the market value is approximately $271 million to $279 million, and the fully diluted valuation is approximately $767 million to $769 million. The gap between the two is the part of total supply that is still locked in. If you previously only regarded LayerZero as a security topic, then your previous evaluation can refer to our post-exploit warning article on KelpDAO vulnerability.

Cliff unlocking and linear unlocking are two different designs

Cliff unlocking: One arrival
Cliff unlocking means the lockup period ends once: There is a date on the schedule at which a large number of tokens become available, and nothing happens until then. Such dates tend to make headlines because there is a clear node. We demonstrated how to check the calculation process on August 15, 2026 using memecoin YZY as an example.

Linear unlocking: Ramp with no obvious endpoint
ZRO belongs to another type. According to the LayerZero Foundation's token economics document, strategic partners and core contributors follow a three-year unlock period: full lockdown for the first year, followed by monthly releases for the next two years. The token generation event occurred in June 2024, and the lockup period ended in June 2025. As a result, the plan is currently approximately halfway through and will continue until 2027.

The actual difference is that for cliff unlocking, you are asking what will happen one day. For linear unlocking, you ask how much new supply will be generated each month and whether demand can keep up. This is a question about the token structure.

How to calculate the monthly dilution of tokens by yourself

Calculation requires three input data, which are all public in formal projects: the allocation proportion (percentage) of a certain group, the total supply, and the number of months released.

For ZRO, the situation is as follows: The allocation of core contributors is 25.50% of the total supply, or 255 million tokens. Allocated to 24 monthly batches, which is exactly 10,625,000 ZROs per month. For strategic partners, the allocation ratio is 32.20%, or 322 million tokens, or approximately 13.42 million tokens per month. The total is approximately 24.04 million tokens, which is very close to the number of batches released on August 20 reported by various platforms.

The value of this calculation is that it can be independently verified: you only need the project's tokenics documentation and a calculator. People who regularly process this kind of data can find comparison tools for the best cryptographic analysis platforms, but it still makes sense to use raw data to make calculations yourself because of the differences in data from different platforms.

The next decisive step is to compare monthly releases with circulating supplies. The approximately 25 million new tokens are compared to the approximately 353 million tokens in circulation, which is approximately 7%. With the tradable supply of a token growing at this rate per month, in theory, continued new demand is needed to maintain its price.

Circulation supply, unlocked supply, and total supply are three different numbers

ZRO reveals a mistake that often occurs in unlocking discussions: the three supply numbers are confused, even though they measure different things.

The total supply is not controversial, at 1 billion ZROs. Supply in circulation is divided: CoinGecko and Tokenomist both gave 353,313,325, while DropsTab reported 364.26 million. The LayerZero Foundation wrote in its June 2026 token economics overview that 514 million ZROs have been unlocked, and the remaining 486 million continue to be unlocked.

These 514 million and 353 million are not contradictory, they measure different things. Unlocked means that the lockup period has ended. Being in circulation means that the tokens can be freely traded and held by the holder. The main difference lies with the foundation: it was initially allocated 383 million tokens, of which 250 million were unlocked at launch, and the remaining 183 million were locked again in its own account.

In addition, the allocation is not static: in September 2025, the foundation said it had bought back 50 million ZROs from strategic partners, so its total quota is now 312 million instead of the original 322 million. The foundation also added that core contributors do not follow a unified plan, but follow individual entry terms, so for them, a 24-month average distribution is still just an approximation.

Practical impact on your calculations: Always use the same reference numbers. The 25 million batches represent 2.5% of the total supply, about 7% of the circulation supply, and less than 5% of the unlocked supply. All three numbers are correct, but they tell a completely different story.

Releasing does not mean selling: LayerZero's report on actual sales

The most important objection to any dilution calculation is that unlocked tokens do not have to be sold. It can sit still or be used as collateral. Therefore, the amount released is only the upper limit of potential selling pressure.

LayerZero presented its own data on this. As of May 31, 2026, 134.7 million ZROs have been unlocked from investors since the launch of the token; of these, 85.9 million (or 63.8%) are still held, according to the foundation. Open market sales average 4.9 million ZROs per month, accounting for approximately 0.5% of the total supply. This is about one-fifth of the nominal release of about 25 million tablets per month.

The allocation is thought-provoking: According to the foundation, single actors account for 37.9% of all unlocked ZRO sales to date. Without this actor, all other investors combined sold an average of 3 million ZRO per month, leaving 73.9% of their positions untouched.

These figures come from the issuer itself and should therefore be interpreted with caution: a company that needs to explain high release rates has an incentive to show lower sales figures. You can only do partial verification through blockchain browsers and movements of known wallet addresses. However, its directionality still has reference value.

The repurchase program partially offset the release, but did not eliminate it

LayerZero uses a repurchase program to fight releases: According to its own statistics,$112.7 million has been used to repurchase ZRO since September 2025. The largest of these was the repurchase of 50 million tokens mentioned above, which, according to the foundation, reduced the monthly gross release of strategic partners from 15 million to 12.7 million ZROs. In addition, there is a buyback from proceeds from the bridging agreement Stargate, which has so far purchased 1.9 million tokens worth US$2.8 million.

Weighing the orders of magnitude of these numbers, you will see the limitations of this hedging approach. Compared with the 1.9 million tokens repurchased from agreement revenue, the monthly release is approximately 13 times the former. Structurally, a one-time repurchase is effective because it permanently removes supply from the release program. Continuing repurchase depends on the income of the agreement.

Trading volume determines whether the release will bring any pressure.

Releases in themselves are of little significance. Only relative to transaction volume can it tell if the market can absorb these supplies: the same amount of release is only a small footnote for highly liquid tokens and a problem for lightly traded tokens. LayerZero used this reference number to convert the 2.05 million remaining tokens per month from the largest seller into approximately 0.17% of monthly transaction volume.

This formula applies to any token: the monthly release amount divided by the average transaction volume over the same period. The problem is data quality, as trading volumes are reported by exchanges and can be exaggerated.

What Dilution Calculation Can't Do

To be honest, the limitations of this method need to be pointed out: What the calculation tells you is how much new supply is generated on paper. It says nothing about the price.

Unlock dates are usually known years ago and appear in public documents; well-known information may have been priced by the market. Computing also lacks the demand side: a project whose usage grows faster than the release plan may rise even with severe dilution. Allocation also does not explain how the recipient will act. Governance is also an uncertainty: At LayerZero, agreement fees were voted on three times, with support ratings exceeding 96%, but the most recent time in December 2025, the voting rate was only 3.71%.

Dilution calculations are a tool to clarify ideas and are neither a buy signal nor a sell signal. Its use is that a title with large numbers can no longer pretend to be analysis.

In terms of taxation, the holding period is based on Article 23 of the Income Tax Act rather than the unlocking date

For private investors in Germany, the sale of crypto assets is a private disposal transaction as stipulated in Article 23 of the Income Tax Act. The key is the time between purchase and disposal: if it does not exceed one year, the proceeds are subject to tax; if it exceeds one year, it is exempt. There is also a tax exemption limit: according to the law, if the total proceeds from all private disposal transactions during the calendar year are less than 1000 euros, the proceeds are exempt from tax. The tax exemption limit is not an exemption: once exceeded, all proceeds are subject to tax.

If you adjust your position in the short term due to expected supply pressure, you may break a holding period that is about to expire. This is not a substitute for tax advice in a case.

Putting LayerZero Unlock in the Background: Points to Remember

Calculate the monthly release amount before judging an unlock headline.

The allocation ratio is multiplied by the total supply and divided by the number of months released: For ZRO, core contributors are 255 million tokens divided by 24 months, or 10,625,000 tokens per month. Compare the results to the circulation supply. Which data sources are worth using, you can refer to the comparison of encryption and analysis platforms.

Examine both sources and consider the differences as a range.

For ZRO, data on the same date ranged from 24.68 million to 25.7 million, while the circulation supply varied by 11 million depending on providers. When viewing, pay attention to the objects referred to by any percentages. Which trading platforms are regulated can refer to the comparison of regulated crypto exchanges.

Separate supply issues from your tax issues.

Whether a project releases tokens has no effect on your holding period. Before adjusting your position due to a certain date, please check the time of your purchase and whether the one-year period of Section 23 of the Income Tax Act applies. Continuous bookkeeping can help you save you this trouble. See the comparison of crypto tax tools and portfolio trackers.

Data on allocations, repurchase, and sales are from the LayerZero Foundation's June 3, 2026 Tokenology Summary; supply data as of August 20, 2026 is available at Tokenomist and cross-checked with CoinGecko and DropsTab.

(As of August 16, 2026. This article does not constitute investment advice. Price and fee structures are subject to change; please check terms with your provider before purchasing.)