Orca (ORCA)
Unlock Schedule
Orca (ORCA) Token Unlock & Vesting Schedule
The unlock chart above provides a clear visual overview of the Orca (ORCA) 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 ORCA 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
Token facts
- Ticker: ORCA (SPL token)
- Contract: orcaEKTdK7LKz57vaAYr9QeNsVEPfiu6QeMU1kektZE
- Issuance: August 9, 2021
- Total supply: 75,000,000 ORCA (as stated in Orca’s official documentation) (docs.orca.so)
Orca tokenomics (“Orca tokenomics”) began with a community‑first airdrop to early liquidity providers and traders in 2021. The DAO manages a community treasury and a fee treasury that accumulate over time and can fund grants, growth, and future upgrades. (medium.com)
Governance, staking, and xORCA
ORCA is a governance token that lets holders shape upgrades via the Orca DAO and its DAO Council. In 2025, governance approved xORCA, which turns staked ORCA into a liquid, yield‑bearing token that appreciates as the protocol buys ORCA on the open market using 20% of Whirlpool fees. Stakers receive xORCA 1:1 at deposit, and, after a seven‑day cooldown to exit, can redeem more ORCA per xORCA over time as buybacks accumulate in the vault. The governance and upgrade authority use a 3‑of‑5 council multisig. (docs.orca.so)
How ORCA captures protocol activity
- Trading fees flow first to LPs (maker share), then to the protocol (for development, DAO treasury, and xORCA buybacks), and a fixed slice goes to the Climate Fund.
- As volume grows, more fees are routed to buybacks for xORCA, which strengthens the link between protocol performance and token utility. (docs.orca.so)
Assumptions
- Team vesting modeled as 1-year cliff from issuance (2021-08-09) followed by 24-month linear vest.
Team allocation described as 3-year vesting with 1-year cliff at launch; exact vest start day not explicitly enumerated in docs; using issuance date for cliff start.
- Private sale vesting modeled from 2022-09-22 to 2024-09-22.
Investors received 9.6% with 12-month cliff and 24-month linear vest; fundraise announced on 2021-09-22; used that date to anchor the schedule.
- Value-Add + Advisory treated as unlocked at TGE to a grants pool rather than a time-locked vest.
Builders Program grants in 2022 used this category; no explicit vesting schedule published for the pool itself.
- Contributor Growth Allocation modeled as linear vest from 2024-03-14 to 2026-03-14.
Council approved 5M ORCA contributor grant on 2023-03-14 with service-based 1-year requirement then two-year payout; actual individual grant timing varies; modeled for charting.
- Community Treasury shown as unlocked at TGE with post-burn balance 30.85M.
Treasury tokens were available subject to governance; 25M ORCA burned in April 2025 per approved and executed proposal; remaining balance modeled as unlocked supply held by treasury until spent.
- xORCA fee buybacks are not modeled as emissions.
Mechanism uses protocol fees to buy existing ORCA on market and deposit to staking vault; no new token issuance; does not increase total supply.
- 1. https://docs.orca.so/token-holder-documentation/orca-for-community/token-treasury
- 2. https://medium.com/orca-so/the-orca-governance-token-true-value-36edc9fb4245
- 3. https://medium.com/orca-so/orca-raises-18m-from-polychain-placeholder-three-arrows-and-more-4e756dacf812
- 4. https://forums.orca.so/t/governance-council-proposal-contributor-grant-bug-bounty/187
- 5. https://forums.orca.so/t/tokenholder-proposal-for-xorca-initial-development-team-grant-buybacks-and-burn/882
- 6. https://orca-so.medium.com/april-2025-updates-e670b5d86d17
- 7. https://docs.orca.so/orca-staking/xorca-staking-and-governance
- 8. https://messari.io/report/orca-solanas-human-friendly-automated-market-maker
- 9. https://www.reddit.com/r/orca_so/comments/p1vva3
Allocations
Description
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Orca is a user‑friendly decentralized exchange (DEX) that runs on the Orca blockchain stack of Solana and Eclipse. It focuses on fast swaps, low fees, and clear design so anyone can trade tokens or provide liquidity with confidence.
| Sector: | DEX |
| Blockchain: | Solana |