📢 Weekly Token Unlocks Digest | Sep 21-27, 2026
The Fed raised rates 25bp to 3.75-4.00% on Sep 16, its first hike since 2023.
🔓 Unlock Spotlight
$XPL - $152.88M unlock on Sep 25, 63.20% of circulating supply. Circulating and unlocked supply are the same 2.78B for XPL, so the figure holds on either basis.
• One-year cliff: the first third of team and investor allocations becomes transferable, the first insider tokens to do so.
• The remaining two-thirds vest monthly through Sep 2028, so this starts a schedule rather than ending one.
🆕 TGE on the Radar
Arc ($ARC) - Circle's L1 went live Sep 16; the 10B initial supply was minted Sep 14, with decaying inflation after that.
• Indicative split per the May whitepaper: 60% ecosystem, 25% Circle, 15% long-term reserve.
• Circle says the mint is not a commitment to a public offering. No ARC token has launched and it is not tradable.
🔄 Notable Tokenomics Updates
• Balancer ($BAL) - wind-down proposal would cancel the buyback and distribute the treasury, which the proposal puts at no less than $9M, to holders who burn $BAL.
• Cronos ($CRO) - signalling vote open to Oct 3 on routing 100% of Ult and Cronos Launch revenue into $CRO buyback and monthly burn.
Which card has better cashback in Europe?
Plasma One vs RedotPay.
Both advertise 3%.
But cashback is only half the equation.
Using the FX rates from the same real-world test, take a €100 purchase:
> Market value: $114.90
> @Plasma Core: $116.35 charged, $3.49 back, $112.86 all-in
> @RedotPay Pro: $117.83 charged, $3.53 back, $114.30 all-in
Plasma converted about 1.26% above market. RedotPay was about 2.55% above market.
Now scale that to €1,200 of monthly spending.
Plasma:
> $1,396.20 charged
> $17.40 lost to FX
> $37.92 cashback
> +$20.52 net before membership
Why $37.92? Plasma pays 3% on the first $1,000, then 2% after that.
RedotPay:
> $1,413.96 charged
> $35.16 lost to FX
> $18 cashback
> -$17.16 net before membership
RedotPay Pro pays 3% only on the first $600, so cashback is capped at $18. Annualized at €1,200/month, assuming the same observed FX rates:
> Plasma: +$246.29 before the $199 Core fee
> Plasma after the fee: +$47.29
> RedotPay: -$205.92 before the $129 Pro fee
> RedotPay after the fee: -$334.92
So even though both cards advertise 3% cashback, the result is completely different once FX, cashback bands and membership fees are included.
One live FX test does not mean these rates stay identical every day.
But it shows why I never compare crypto cards by headline cashback alone.
3% vs 3% can still produce very different bills.
Which two cards should I compare next?
My thanks go to everyone who put so much effort into the CLARITY Act— across the Administration, Congress, investors, and innovators. Our collective conviction that America must continue to lead is indispensable.
I have been unequivocal: with or without legislation, we will act decisively within the SEC’s statutory authority to deliver certainty for American investors and for the entrepreneurs shaping our technological future.
Stay tuned.
BREAKING: Bitcoin Strategic Reserve bill passes U.S. House committee. 🚀
• Mandates study of budget-neutral BTC acquisition.
• Extends wash-sale rules to crypto.
• Requires 20-year hold on future reserves.
Advances to full House vote.
The Clarity Act failing today makes everybody a loser, all because partisan jockeying beat out common sense:
The lines between tokens and securities are no more clear.
Entrepreneurs will still prefer to build and raise capital offshore.
Investors will receive no more information, or protections.
Developers have no additional safeguards for decentralized systems.
Banks are stuck with stablecoins able to pay rewards (yield).
There are zero ethical guardrails for government employees and crypto.
The list goes on.
But mostly I just feel for the countless folks in the industry and across the House and Senate (of both parties) that worked on this for so long, and the light of American leadership dimming just a tad.
Onwards
This is not the end for the Clarity Act. We've made substantial bipartisan progress in large part because of the White House. This procedural motion allows us to continue working towards a positive outcome.