Polkadot (DOT) Tokenomics, Unlock Schedule and Vesting Chart

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Polkadot (DOT) Token Unlock & Vesting Schedule

As of October 16, 2026, 1.7 billion of the 2.1 billion DOT (81.19%) have been released. The schedule is ongoing, with no final release date. Over the next 12 months it releases 54.01 million DOT (all estimated) from PoS Validator/Nominator Rewards and Treasury Issuance, worth about $62.11 million at today's price (3.17% of the market cap). Today's release is an estimated 154,321 DOT from PoS Validator/Nominator Rewards and Treasury Issuance.

The chart shows gross modeled releases of every allocation: vesting unlocks, new issuance and reserve distributions, each allocation counted once. These have different meanings; a scheduled release is not evidence that tokens entered circulation or were sold. Review the coverage, sources and assumptions below.

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

DOT ties participation in Polkadot to several network functions. Validators and nominators stake it to support security and receive rewards. Holders use it to vote on proposals or delegate their votes. Teams building connected chains use DOT to purchase coretime—access to Polkadot’s shared computing resources. DOT is also used for some network fees, although Asset Hub can support fee payment with certain other assets. (wiki.polkadot.com)

Polkadot’s token supply rules have changed through on-chain governance. A decision implemented in January 2026 set a maximum supply of 2.1 billion DOT. Under its stepped issuance schedule, the creation of new DOT declines every two years as supply moves toward that limit. New tokens help reward people securing the network and fund the community treasury. DOT spent on coretime is burned, meaning it is removed from circulation. (wiki.polkadot.com)

Earlier in Polkadot’s history, teams locked DOT to win long parachain leases through auctions. Since the introduction of agile coretime in 2024, teams can instead buy a longer block of access or obtain capacity when they need it. This links a major use of DOT to the computing time a project chooses to use. (wiki.polkadot.com)

Upcoming DOT Releases

Period	Allocation	Type	Amount	Value	% of supply
Oct 16 – 31, 2026	PoS Validator/Nominator Rewards and Treasury Issuance	Issuance, estimated	2.5M	$2.8M	0.12%
Nov 2026	PoS Validator/Nominator Rewards and Treasury Issuance	Issuance, estimated	4.6M	$5.3M	0.22%
Dec 2026	PoS Validator/Nominator Rewards and Treasury Issuance	Issuance, estimated	4.8M	$5.5M	0.23%
Jan 2027	PoS Validator/Nominator Rewards and Treasury Issuance	Issuance, estimated	4.8M	$5.5M	0.23%
Feb 2027	PoS Validator/Nominator Rewards and Treasury Issuance	Issuance, estimated	4.3M	$5M	0.21%
Mar 2027	PoS Validator/Nominator Rewards and Treasury Issuance	Issuance, estimated	4.8M	$5.5M	0.23%
Total, next 12 months			54M	$62.1M	2.57%

1–6 of 12 releases

of 2 pages

Values at $1.15 per DOT (October 16, 2026), today's price, not a forecast. Releases continue after September 2027. Estimated amounts are modeled from the schedule's rules rather than dated by a source; see the Assumptions below.

Assumptions

Polkadot created 1 billion DOT at launch in 2020 (10 million before a 1:100 split), and all new DOT since then comes from staking-reward and treasury issuance. Issuance was tied to the staking rate until late 2024, then fixed at about 120 million DOT a year, and since 14 March 2026 it has been cut to about 56.9 million a year under a new 2.1 billion DOT hard cap, with further cuts every two years. The exact founder/investor vesting terms and the cumulative amount of DOT burned by the Treasury and coretime sales are not documented in the sources found, so they are left open. The chart shows the genesis mint and an estimated supply curve built from dated total-supply readings, reaching about 1.70 billion DOT in September 2026; it does not subtract burns.

Sources (13)

Max Supply 2.10B

Unlocked Supply 1.70B

Unlock Progress 81.19%

Genesis Date May 2020

Fully Unlocked Ongoing

Allocations 2

Marketcap Rank (#) 50

Price ($) 1.17 -3.63% (7d)

24h Volume ($) 16M -16.16% (7d)

Marketcap ($) 2B

Fully Diluted Value ($) 2.4B

Circulating Supply 81% HIGH

Perpetuals: 6 markets on Binance, OKX, Hyperliquid and Lighter · $56.4M open interest

Spot

Perp


DOT/USDT	18M	77K/107K
DOT/USDT	13M	294K/285K
DOT/USDT	5.6M	337K/424K
DOT/USDT	4.3M	331K/595K
DOT/USD	3M	216K/376K
DOT/USDT	3M	361K/439K
DOT/USDC	2.5M	107K/133K
DOT/USDT	2.4M	94K/111K
DOT/USD	2.4M	434K/365K
DOT/USDT	1.9M	3.9K/2.4K
DOT/USDT	1.7M	205K/185K
DOT/EUR	913K	228K/240K
DOT/TRY	643K	52K/73K
DOT/USDT	581K	185K/305K
DOT/USDC	435K	455K/432K
DOT/EUR	230K	17K/28K
DOT/BTC	228K	20K/29K
DOT/USDC	223K	86K/88K
DOT/EUR	135K	4.4K/5.5K
DOT/GBP	119K	2.7K/17K
DOT/USDT	103K	5.9K/14K
DOT/BTC	79K	22K/17K
DOT/BTC	68K	16K/59K
DOT/FDUSD	62K	3.7K/1.8K

Allocations

Genesis Allocation (DOT at launch, post-redenomination)

1,000,000,000 tokens

Cliff: May 26, 2020 — 100.00% of allocation · 1,000,000,000 tokens

Sources: What is Polkadot Coin (DOT) & How Does It Work?Polkadot - redenomination 1:100 of 10 million DOT to 1 billion

PoS Validator/Nominator Rewards and Treasury Issuance

Ongoing issuance

Observed release: 704,944,036 tokens

Estimated from the last observation onward: about 154,321 per day (4,697,160 per month), the rate between the observations of 16 May 2026 and 29 September 2026.

Sources: What is the Total Supply of DOT?Referendum #1710 - Hard Pressure Capped & Stepped Supply ScheduleRefining Polkadot's Economic Architecture: DOT Issuance, DAP, and Network AdjustmentsPolkadot's Referendum on New Linear InflationReferendum #1271 - Upgrade to v1.3.4, setting inflation to 120M DOT per yearPolkadot Staking Report H1 2023Polkadot - redenomination 1:100 of 10 million DOT to 1 billion

Last Updated: 2026-09-29 18:50:03 UTC

Description

#50

Polkadot is a network protocol that enables different blockchains to communicate and exchange data securely and efficiently. It also allows for scalable and flexible multi-chain applications that can leverage the features of various blockchains.

Sector:	Layer 1
Blockchain:	Polkadot

2020

POS