Token unlock and vesting explained: cliff vs monthly tranches

A token unlock is the date on which a project's locked tokens become tradable. Nothing is created in the process: the supply has existed all along, it was simply held in a contract that would not release it before a given date. What matters, then, is how that figure compares with circulating supply and the schedule under which it comes free, not the headline with the big number. Two patterns shape that schedule: the cliff, a single large release after a lock-up, and linear vesting, where the same supply trickles out in instalments over months.