Magic Eden (ME)
Unlock Schedule
Magic Eden (ME) Token Unlock & Vesting Schedule
The unlock chart above provides a clear visual overview of the Magic Eden (ME) token release schedule, showing when and how tokens enter circulation across investor, team, treasury, and community allocations. Understanding these tokenomics dynamics is critical for evaluating potential supply pressure, inflation impact, and market liquidity over time — key factors that can influence ME price performance.
Each color segment in the chart corresponds to a specific allocation group described in the Allocations section below. Underlying assumptions and data models used to reconstruct this schedule are explained in detail under Assumptions, while broader utility insights and token use cases are covered in Tokenomics & Utility.
Tokenomics & Utility
Supply and distribution
- Total supply: 1,000,000,000 ME
- Emission schedule: four years, with the majority allocated to the community
- Headline allocations (updated by the ME Foundation):
- Initial claim at TGE: 12.5% (fully unlocked at TGE; unclaimed amounts redirected to stakers via the community bucket)
- Community & Ecosystem: 38.4% (22.5% for on‑chain activity rewards; 15.9% for ecosystem development, including 5% earmarked for the ME Foundation treasury)
- Contributors: 25.5% (with >60% of core‑contributor tokens locked at least 18 months)
- Strategic Participants: 23.6% (min 12‑month lock and gradual unlocking) (blog.mefoundation.com)
Staking and governance
Staking turns ME into “Staking Power,” which scales with amount and lock length (from 1 day up to 4 years). Stakers earn rewards through Magic Eden’s Quests and gain voting power in the ME DAO to shape protocol upgrades via on‑chain proposals (MIPs). A five‑member Security Council—defined in the ME DAO Constitution—can act during emergencies to protect the network and uphold constitutional rules. (blog.mefoundation.com)
Rewards and programmatic incentives
ME underpins a cross‑chain activity program that rewards users for trading assets across supported networks. These rewards, distributed over multiple “seasons,” tie platform use, staking multipliers, and governance participation together in one loop. (help.magiceden.io)
Buybacks as ecosystem support
Magic Eden has formalized a buyback program that allocates 30% of marketplace fees toward automated buybacks—15% to purchase $ME on‑chain and 15% to purchase NFTs into a public collection (the “Garden”). The program is documented on Magic Eden’s site and is being rolled out across chains. (magiceden.us)
Assumptions
- Community rewards (Active User Rewards) are modeled as linear monthly emissions from 2024-12-10 to 2028-12-10.
Officially distributed via seasonal airdrops and quests over four years; exact month-by-month amounts not specified in primary sources.
- Ecosystem Development (incl. Treasury & Liquidity) modeled as linear monthly over four years.
Primary source indicates long-term grants and treasury support with no detailed disbursement cadence; linearization enables cumulative charting.
- Contributors bucket uses an 18-month cliff then 30-month linear vest for the entire allocation.
Primary source guarantees >=60% locked for 18 months; specific vesting for the remaining portion not disclosed. To align with the 4-year full circulation guidance, entire bucket is modeled with an 18-month cliff followed by linear vest.
- Strategic Participants modeled with a 12-month cliff then 36-month linear vest.
Primary source states a minimum 12-month lock and gradual unlock thereafter within the 4-year schedule; no finer cadence provided.
- Unclaimed TGE airdrop returns to community rewards pool and is not double-counted.
Explicitly stated by ME Foundation; our model keeps the Initial Claim fixed at 125M and assumes any unclaimed is emitted later via the Active User Rewards allocation.
Allocations
Description
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Magic Eden is a decentralized NFT marketplace on Solana, Ethereum, Polygon, and Bitcoin. It supports NFT creation, trading, and auctions with low fees and fast transaction processing speeds, using a Launchpad for new projects and a governance token ($ME) for community engagement.
| Sector: | NFT |
| Blockchain: | Solana |