LayerZero ZRO unlock on 20 November: 31M tokens, 7 releases left

The next LayerZero unlock falls on 20 November 2026. Trackers count about 31.25 million ZRO leaving vesting that day, roughly 3.1% of the 1 billion total supply, and no source gives the hour. On the schedule published by tokenomics.com it is the 18th of 24 monthly releases, with the last on 20 May 2027, so seven remain, this one included. LayerZero publishes no figure for the whole day: its official ZRO token page gives a monthly number for one group of holders only.

ZRO traded at USD 1.63 at 09:17 UTC on 7 November, according to our market snapshot. At that price, 31.25 million tokens are worth about USD 51 million. Tokenomics.com showed USD 50.8 million on the same day, or 4.0% of ZRO’s market capitalisation.

What the LayerZero unlock releases on 20 November

Tokenomist lists three recipient lines: strategic partners, core contributors and a line for repurchased tokens. Its public page gives no amount for them. Tokenomics.com splits the 31.25 million ZRO into private investors (42.9%), insiders (34.0%) and community (23.1%), while the allocation section of the same page shows 42.3%, 32.2% and 25.5%. We could not check either split against a LayerZero document.

Measured against the tokens already trading, the release looks bigger. Tokenomist counts 399,976,127 ZRO in circulation, so 31.25 million would add about 7.8% (our calculation).

A token unlock frees tokens from a vesting contract. It does not mean they are sold. LayerZero’s page says that, as of 31 May 2026, investors had received 134.7 million ZRO since launch and still held 85.9 million of them, or 63.8%.

Why LayerZero says 12.7 million and trackers say 31.25 million

The official page gives one monthly figure. The strategic partners’ gross monthly release fell from 15 million to 12.7 million ZRO after the Foundation bought back part of their allocation, which now stands at 312 million ZRO. That total includes 40 million tokens first repurchased from FTX and Alameda Research and later returned to strategic partners under a legal settlement.

Trackers count more groups than that one line: Tokenomist adds core contributors and repurchased tokens, tokenomics.com adds insiders and community. LayerZero does not publish monthly amounts for those groups, so the 31.25 million total and the 12.7 million partner figure cannot be matched line by line from public pages.

How much ZRO is still locked depends on who counts

Three sources give three answers. LayerZero says 514 million ZRO are unlocked and 486 million still vest across the Foundation, strategic partners and core contributors. Part of that is a Foundation block of 183 million ZRO, the 50 million bought back included, which stays locked until LayerZero’s Zero mainnet launches. It waits for a launch, not for a date, and the page gives no launch date.

Tokenomics.com models only the dated schedule: seven releases of 31.25 million, or 218.75 million ZRO (21.9% of supply), still to come by May 2027. Tokenomist shows 63.07% of supply as unlocked, which leaves about 369 million locked. Its circulating figure of about 400 million is well below the 631 million it counts as unlocked, and the page does not explain the gap.

Seven releases left before May 2027

Tokenomics.com dates ZRO’s launch to 19 June 2024 and describes a 12-month cliff followed by 24 months of linear releases on the 20th of each month. Counted that way, the first monthly release came in June 2025 and November 2026 is the 18th, which matches the page’s count of seven events left. The same page also contradicts itself on the initial float, and LayerZero’s own page states no cliff or vesting length.

The release has grown. KuCoin, citing ChainCatcher, counted about 25.71 million ZRO on 20 November 2025, and FXStreet reported a release of about 25 million in January 2026. Tokenomics.com gives the same 31.25 million for December, January and February, as a linear schedule would, but no source we read explains why the monthly amount rose from about 25 million a year ago.

The Foundation buyback and a fee switch that stays off

In September 2025 the LayerZero Foundation repurchased 50 million ZRO, 5% of supply, from strategic partners. LayerZero has not published the price it paid. Those tokens now sit in the Foundation’s locked block.

ZRO holders have voted four times on a fee switch, according to the LayerZero Foundation’s fee-switch page. All four came out Off: 20 to 27 December 2024, 20 to 27 June 2025, 19 to 27 December 2025 and 20 to 27 June 2026. If turned on, the switch would add a protocol fee to each message, and the proceeds would buy back and burn ZRO. The token page covers the first three votes: approval topped 96% each time, but turnout was 10.96%, 13.01% and 3.71%, against a dynamic quorum with a 20% floor. No date for a fifth vote is listed. Our guide to governance tokens explains how such votes work.

A tense month for LayerZero

This week, as we reported on the Reth client bug, LayerZero paused some cross-chain routes as a precaution. TokenPost wrote on 7 November that parts of its off-chain infrastructure for some EVM networks were paused and that messages were delayed, not lost. As of 07:30 UTC on 7 November LayerZero had published no statement and no restart time. CryptoSlate noted that the pause does not show LayerZero’s contracts were vulnerable. Separately, ApeChain had announced on 4 November a plan to move from LayerZero to Chainlink CCIP.

The background is the exploit of 18 April. An attacker drained 116,500 rsETH, about USD 292 million, from a KelpDAO route that relied on a single verifier run by LayerZero Labs, and LayerZero tied the attack to TraderTraitor, a unit of North Korea’s Lazarus Group. Kelp’s developer has since sued LayerZero Labs in British Columbia. Our LayerZero project page covers what that hack changed for the protocol.

For holders in Europe, the United States or Africa, nothing changes on 20 November in how ZRO is held or traded. The route pause matters more to anyone moving stablecoins or tokens across chains through apps built on LayerZero.

What is not known yet

LayerZero has not published the amount for 20 November, the hour of the release or the monthly amounts for core contributors. The Foundation has not said when Zero mainnet will free its 183 million tokens, and no fifth fee-switch vote has been scheduled. Whether the recipients sell, hold or stake will only show on-chain after the date. A scheduled release is a supply event, not a price signal, and this page is not investment advice.