MegaETH launches MEGA token with $1.56B valuation

MegaETH launched its native MEGA token on Thursday, releasing 1.129 billion tokens from a total supply of 10 billion and assigning a fully diluted valuation of $1.56 billion. At the time of writing MEGA traded at $0.156, giving the circulating tokens a market capitalization of about $176 million after roughly a 30% decline from its morning debut.

The project adopted a performance-based unlock schedule rather than a time-based vesting plan. Additional MEGA will be released only when the network meets specific, measured targets. Metrics that must be reached to trigger new unlocks include total value locked on MegaETH, the circulating supply of the project’s dollar-pegged stablecoin USDm, network speed and throughput, and progress toward decentralizing MegaETH and Ethereum.

Unlocked tokens will be distributed as rewards to MEGA holders who stake their tokens. The reward structure allocates larger shares to holders who lock tokens for longer periods, tying issuance to network performance and user participation rather than a fixed calendar.

Only a fraction of the full supply is active. At launch 1.129 billion MEGA were released and more than 5.3 billion tokens are reserved for the performance-dependent rewards program. Other allocations include 14.7% of the total supply for venture capital investors, 9.5% for the project’s team and advisors, and 7.5% for a token foundation and ecosystem reserve. A public sale distributed 500 million MEGA, equal to 5% of the supply.

Major cryptocurrency exchanges, including Coinbase and Binance, announced support for MEGA trading shortly after launch. Those listings provided initial liquidity but did not prevent the early price decline during the first trading day.

MegaETH is an Ethereum layer-2 scaling network focused on consumer-facing on-chain projects. The network is designed to offer faster and lower-cost transactions than Ethereum mainnet.

The fully diluted valuation reflects the token price multiplied by the full 10 billion supply. Market capitalization reflects only the value of tokens currently circulating. The project’s release plan differs from typical steady vesting schedules by making a large portion of supply contingent on measurable network growth and performance.