What is vesting schedule?

A vesting schedule releases ownership of tokens or shares to people such as founders, employees and investors in stages over time instead of all at once. A typical schedule has a cliff, a waiting period before anything is released, followed by regular releases. It matters because it keeps people committed and prevents a large amount of supply reaching the market at once.

How it works

Allocated tokens start locked. After the cliff, an amount vests on each later date, either in equal steps or on a curve. Tokens that have vested can be sold or moved, which adds to circulating supply. If a person leaves before vesting is complete, the unvested part usually goes back to the treasury.

The trade-off is between retention and liquidity. Longer vesting keeps people aligned with the project and softens selling pressure, but it can discourage people from joining. Clustered unlock dates are a market risk because many holders may sell at the same moment, so many projects spread releases out evenly.

Example

Say a team receives 12 million tokens with a 12-month cliff and then monthly vesting over the following 24 months. In months 1 to 12, nothing is released. From month 13 to month 36, equal monthly releases of 12 million ÷ 24 = 500,000 tokens vest. By month 24, 12 months of releases, or 6 million tokens, are vested. This is an illustration with round numbers, not a recommended schedule.

How to model it in Machinations

Use a Pool for locked tokens, a Delay or a timed trigger for the cliff, and a Source-like flow from the locked Pool to a circulating Pool at a fixed amount per step. Set cliff length and duration as Levers. Chart both Pools and a Register for the vested share. Play across the whole schedule and shorten the duration to see how a steeper unlock adds to circulating supply.