What Is ONDO and Why Is the Token Up 2,500% Since Unlock?

• $ONDO has dominated conversations in crypto circles as the token has surged over 2,500% since its unlock.

Ever so often in the crypto space, a new token emerges to capture the imaginations of crypto speculators.

In the latest instance, the new talk of the crypto town is a token called $ONDO. The token has witnessed a staggering 2,500% rise following its unlock.

In this article, we explore what $ONDO is and why crypto community members are excited by the token’s prospects.

What Is The $ONDO Token?

$ONDO is the native token of Ondo Finance, a Coinbase-backed securities tokenization project that is promoted as offering better liquidity than traditional markets.

It is also the native token of Flux Finance, a lending protocol built to allow DeFi natives a piece of the action by getting yields for lending their stablecoins to qualified investors who use the stablecoins to gain exposure to Ondo’s tokenized securities.

While a percentage of the token’s supply had already been in circulation largely thanks to a “Community Access Sale” that reportedly saw participation from 18,000 community members, these tokens were not transferable until a recent unlock on Thursday, January 18, effectively creating a market for them.

See Also: Ondo Foundation To Unlock And Release $ONDO Token Soon

Following the token unlock, $ONDO has already been listed for trading on exchanges like Bybit, KuCoin, and MEXC, with Coinbase also announcing listing plans.

The Function Of The $ONDO Token?

$ONDO primarily serves as the governance token for $ONDO DAO, which oversees changes to Flux Finance.

Given the utility of $ONDO and the growing excitement over tokenization as an emerging crypto narrative, it is unsurprising that the token has quickly gained significant attention.

Still, the asset’s 2,500% jump from $0.01 at unlock to over $0.26 at the time of writing deserves a deeper dive, as utility might not be the only reason for the recent speculation surrounding the token.

$ONDO Airdrops?

Per the project’s tokenomics, 52.1% of $ONDO’s 10 billion supply has been allocated for “Ecosystem Growth,” including incentives like airdrops.

To this end, the Ondo Foundation, tasked with growing the ecosystem, had established a points program, offering rewards for actions like holding on to $ONDO and participating in governance.

$ONDO has an estimated 1.4 billion tokens in circulation with a market cap of over $378 million, per CoinGecko data at the time of writing.

It’s important to note that Ondo Finance’s 45.9% token allocation to core contributors and investors has attracted flak from some crypto community members.

Prominent crypto analyst “Duo Nine” slammed it as a ploy to “milk retail.” More so, gains like the ones experienced by $ONDO after the unlock are rarely sustainable.