Did 640 million unlocked tokens fail to dump the price? $KITE instead rose for four straight days
The first batch of insider tokens, about 640 million (roughly $75.5 million), unlocked on November 3. Yet $KITE climbed from its November 8 low of $0.106 back to $0.1274, turning the unlock overhang into a bottom.
Project snapshot: Kite AI is an EVM-compatible PoS Layer 1 on Avalanche, built specifically for payments between AI agents. Agent Passport gives agents identities and manages delegated payments, with support for x402 stablecoin settlements. In September 2025, it completed an $18 million Series A led by PayPal Ventures and General Catalyst, bringing total funding to $33 million. It was featured in Binance Launchpool’s 71st project and listed on November 3, 2025. The mainnet launched on April 30, 2026.
Catalysts: November 3 marked the first unlock after a one-year lockup for the team and investors. Tokenomist estimates about 640 million tokens, worth roughly $75.5 million, or around 26.8% of the circulating supply (400 million for the team and 240 million for investors). Other estimates range from 670 million to 1.11 billion tokens. The price held after the unlock: after closing at $0.106 on November 8, it rose for four straight days (+7.32%, +4.11%, +3.88%, and +0.42% today), up about 20% from the low. Tokenomist currently shows no schedule for the next cliff unlock.
Market data: Current price $0.1274, 24h +0.42%, range $0.1214–$0.1302. Binance perpetual 24h volume is about $9.95 million; open interest is 169 million tokens, or about $21.54 million. Funding rate: +0.005%/8h (longs pay a small fee); next settlement at 2026-11-13 00:00 CST. Market cap is about $300 million (around #130), with 2.391 billion tokens circulating out of a total supply of 10 billion and an FDV of about $1.21 billion. The price is still roughly 60% below its March 6 high of $0.3197. For comparison, the broader market is down tonight: $BTC is around $71,400 (-2.94%) and $ETH around $1,999 (-2.87%), while $KITE is climbing against the market.
Risks: The unlock is only the beginning. The team’s 20% allocation and investors’ 12% allocation were locked for one year and will vest linearly over four years, through 2030; each subsequent tranche could bring selling pressure. The project has yet to publish usage data such as the number of Agent Passport wallets or on-chain settlement volume, so the agent-payments narrative has no public dashboard to verify it. On August 6, 2026, the KITE token on Ethereum was attacked (the team said no tokens were lost, though transfers were temporarily paused). Perpetual open interest is only about $21.54 million, meaning thin liquidity could amplify volatility.
What to watch next: Whether the price can hold above the intraday high of $0.1302 and defend the $0.1214 low; changes in open interest after the 00:00 CST funding settlement; whether unlocked tokens are transferred to exchanges; and when the team publishes Passport and settlement-volume data.
The unlock overhang has passed, and the price is rising. Do you think the selling pressure has genuinely been absorbed, or is this just a relief bounce after being oversold?
For informational purposes only; not investment advice.