Deep Dive
1. Vesting Unlocks (Bearish Impact)
Overview: 80.5% of NODE’s total supply remains locked, with linear unlocks ongoing through 2029. Early backers (22.5% of supply) began unlocking in mid-2025 after a 12-month cliff, while initial contributors (15%) unlock over 60 months. Recent volume spikes align with unlock events.
Source: NodeOps Tokenomics.
What this means: Continuous supply inflation could suppress prices if demand doesn’t absorb new tokens. Historical unlocks correlate with 30-day price drops exceeding 60%, making this a critical near-term overhang.
2. Revenue-Driven Scarcity (Bullish Impact)
Overview: NodeOps burns 50% of protocol revenue in NODE tokens, with ~20.86M tokens already destroyed. The protocol generated $3.8M revenue in July 2025, suggesting ongoing burn potential. Emissions are capped at 186,529 NODE/day, governed by on-chain activity.
Source: NodeOps Docs.
What this means: Sustained usage would accelerate deflation, creating a supply/demand tailwind. At current prices, $190K monthly revenue could burn ~12.6M tokens monthly – equivalent to 9.4% of circulating supply.
3. UNO Node Expansion (Mixed Impact)
Overview: UNO Nodes (launched Q3 2025) require operators to bond 2,000 NODE + 200 NODE per compute unit. This could lock tokens, but adoption remains nascent with only 500 active nodes reported.
Source: NodeOps on Twitter.
What this means: If adoption accelerates, bonding could absorb liquid supply. However, the current low node count (0.3% of target capacity) limits near-term impact.
Conclusion
NODE’s trajectory hinges on absorbing unlocks while scaling revenue to trigger deflation. The 50% revenue burn provides a structural hedge against dilution, but requires protocol growth to activate. UNO adoption could shift sentiment if node counts climb significantly.
What catalyst could flip the deflationary mechanism from theoretical to impactful?