---
title: Vesting
url: "https://www.unknowngravity.com/en/glosario/vesting"
site: Unknown Gravity
published: "2026-09-21T11:55:12+00:00"
modified: "2026-09-21T11:55:14+00:00"
language: en-US
description: "Vesting is the schedule under which the team and investors receive their tokens gradually instead of all on day one: typically an initial period with nothing (the cliff) and then monthly release."
section: "Home > Vesting"
---

# Vesting

GLOSSARY · BLOCKCHAIN & WEB3

What vesting is: the gradual unlock schedule for team and investor tokens, with cliff and linear release, and why it is the first due diligence.

WHAT IS IT? · FOR DUMMIES

**Vesting** is the schedule under which the team and investors receive their tokens gradually instead of all on day one: typically an initial period with nothing (the cliff) and then monthly release. Its purpose is to align incentives — so that nobody can sell and disappear.

WHAT IS IT? · PRO

A standard scheme: a 6-12 month cliff and linear release over 2-4 years, implemented in verifiable contracts. Reading the vesting is the first due diligence on any token: how many tokens unlock, when and whose — large unlocks are selling pressure announced with a date, and a team without vesting is a red flag on its own.

In [tokenomics](/en/glosario/tokenomics) design, vesting is the honest tool: it promises with verifiable facts what the [whitepaper](/en/glosario/whitepaper-mica) promises with words. In regulated issuances it also performs the function of the classic securities-market lock-ups.

## 01 / Key points

- Gradual token unlock: initial cliff + linear release
- Aligns team and investors with the long term
- Unlocks are selling pressure with an announced date
- First due diligence on any token

## 02 / Advantages

- Verifiable on-chain, not promised in a PDF
- Protects the investor from a team that sells and leaves
- Crypto equivalent of the traditional lock-up

## 03 / Disadvantages

- Massive cliffs concentrate selling pressure
- Modifiable if governance allows it: read who can change it
- Does not guarantee commitment, only incentivises it

This entry is informative. It is not legal, tax or investment advice. The rules cited change: check the current version on [BOE](https://www.boe.es) and [EUR-Lex](https://eur-lex.europa.eu).