Synapse (SYN)
Unlock Schedule
Synapse (SYN) Token Unlock & Vesting Schedule
The unlock chart above provides a clear visual overview of the Synapse (SYN) 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 SYN 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
Original SYN design
Historically, SYN served three roles:
- Governance: voting on SynapseDAO proposals, emissions, and deployments.
- Incentives: liquidity mining and pool incentives to grow cross‑chain liquidity.
- Protocol utility: fee rebates or rewards tied to bridging and routing. (cryptoeq.io)
SYN’s initial token model emphasized a fixed maximum supply with emissions directed by DAO proposals. Over time, the community adjusted incentives to reflect pool usage and network priorities. The forum’s emissions proposals and buyback discussions illustrate how holders shaped the incentive structure as the bridge matured. (defillama.com)
The 2025 token upgrade path
In January–February 2025, the Synapse community approved SIP‑43 to upgrade SYN into the Cortex Protocol’s $CX, establishing one unified token and DAO for both stacks. The proposal specified a conversion rate and set timelines for migration, along with plans to merge utility and governance under the unified token. Multiple centralized venues and wallet providers later posted migration notices and support steps for holders. While this article focuses on the educational aspects of SYN, the upgrade is a crucial piece of its history and explains why many platforms now reference $CX. (forum.synapseprotocol.com)
Assumptions
- Converted weekly emissions to monthly using 4.345 weeks per month to satisfy monthly granularity.
Forum and ecosystem posts give weekly or monthly figures at different times; a consistent conversion factor is required for a stacked cumulative chart.
- Early liquidity mining emissions modeled in phased bands (725k/week then ~630k/week) before explicit monthly targets appear in governance threads.
SIP-05 and related forum content discuss recalibrations; precise start days are not always specified, so month boundaries were used.
- unvSYN total assumed at ~70M tokens, vested linearly over 24 months starting 2022-01-01.
Synapse forum discussion cites ~70M unvSYN with a 24-month linear vest; final exact onchain totals per week may vary and penalties route to treasury (not modeled).
- Post-2024 emissions reduced to ~127k SYN/month and modeled through 2025-12-31 due to SYN→CX migration context.
Forum proposals show reductions; separate governance threads indicate token upgrade to CX in 2025, so extending beyond 2025 would risk overstating SYN emissions.
- Total supply fixed at 250,000,000 SYN.
Multiple reputable trackers and docs reference a 250M max/total supply; used for percent-of-total calculations.
- 1. https://medium.com/synapse-protocol/introducing-synapse-protocol-2af926143deb
- 2. https://forum.synapseprotocol.com/d/5-sip-05-recalibrating-syns-emissions
- 3. https://forum.synapseprotocol.com/d/6-unvsyn-emission-schedule
- 4. https://forum.synapseprotocol.com/d/1016-road-to-ultrasound-syn-removing-balancer-emissions
- 5. https://forum.synapseprotocol.com/d/2084-synapse-emissions-reduction
- 6. https://forum.synapseprotocol.com/d/7-implement-syn-staking-in-preparation-of-pos-synapse-chain-launch
- 7. https://www.cryptoeq.io/articles/synapse
- 8. https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/synapse
Allocations
Description
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Synapse is a protocol that enables interoperability between blockchains through a cross-chain messaging framework and a consensus mechanism based on multi-party computation validators. It allows for secure and efficient transfer of assets across different chains.
| Sector: | Bridges |
| Blockchain: | Ethereum |