Core Insights - Hyperliquid has attracted renewed market attention following the unstaking of 1.2 million HYPE tokens on December 28, ahead of the first scheduled team distributions on January 6, 2026 [1][7] - The timing of the unstaking has reignited discussions regarding supply pressure and the protocol's ability to manage new token issuance without negatively impacting prices [2] Token Mechanics and Distribution - The unstaked tokens are part of Hyperliquid's team allocation, which constitutes approximately 23.8% of the total HYPE supply, with a vesting schedule of 24 months starting in January 2026 [3][7] - Monthly releases will amount to about 1.2 million tokens, with all future team unlocks occurring on the sixth day of each month to ensure predictability [3] Market Impact and Valuation - The current market value of the monthly unlock, at prices between $26 and $28, is estimated to be around $30–33 million, representing about 0.3% of HYPE's total supply of 420 million tokens [4] - Previous unstaking events, such as the one in November 2025 involving 2.6 million HYPE tokens, resulted in significant sell pressure and a 17% decline in price [5] Mitigation Strategies - Hyperliquid has executed buybacks totaling approximately 1.9 million tokens to absorb a large portion of the newly available supply [6] - Recently, governance approved the burn of roughly 37 million HYPE tokens, nearly 13% of the circulating supply, to counterbalance inflation and strengthen long-term token economics [8]