Deep Dive
1. Token Unlocks (Bearish Impact)
Overview:
27.2M LAYER ($17.3M at current prices) unlocked in August 2025, part of ongoing vesting schedules for investors (16.66% of supply) and team (17.11%). This follows May 2025’s $32M unlock that triggered a 45% price crash (Bitrue).
What this means:
With daily trading volume at $17.8M, unlocks equivalent to ~97% of average liquidity could amplify selling pressure. Historical precedent shows LAYER fell from $3.41 to $1.2 after May’s unlock, suggesting sensitivity to supply shocks.
2. InfiniSVM Mainnet (Bullish Impact)
Overview:
Solayer’s hardware-accelerated blockchain targets 1M TPS via FPGA chips and InfiniBand tech, with mainnet expected Q4 2025. Current devnet handles 250K TPS (Binance).
What this means:
Successful execution could attract high-frequency trading dApps and cross-chain arbitrage bots. The 60% price surge after May 2025’s devnet launch shows market responsiveness to technical milestones.
3. Liquidity Catalysts (Mixed Impact)
Overview:
Coinbase spot listing on 11 Sep 2025 introduces LAYER to 110M verified users, while Binance perpetuals (since Feb 2025) see $434M open interest. However, turnover ratio (volume/market cap) sits at 0.113 – lower than Solana’s 0.47, indicating weaker depth.
What this means:
Listings could improve price discovery but may also enable whale manipulation. Technicals show immediate resistance at $0.572 (38.2% Fib) – a breakout above this level could target $0.62 swing high.
Conclusion
LAYER’s price trajectory hinges on balancing supply inflation from unlocks against adoption of its high-speed infrastructure. The Coinbase listing and InfiniSVM progress offer counterweights to dilution risks, but tokenomics remain a headwind until 2026 when ~40% of supply becomes liquid. Can staking demand outpace vesting schedules? Monitor exchange inflows post-unlocks and mainnet developer activity.