Analyzing 500K+ Vesting Streams: Patterns and Insights

Introduction

Sablier V1 has been running on mainnet since 2023. In that time, over 534,000 token streams have been created across 27+ chains, representing one of the largest datasets on real-world token distribution behavior.

We analyzed this data to answer questions that matter to anyone launching tokens:

• What vesting schedules do teams actually use?
• How long do streams typically last?
• Which chains are projects choosing?
• Are vested airdrops catching on?

Here's what we found.

The Dataset

This includes Sablier Lockup streams (vesting), Sablier Flow deposits (payroll/recurring), and Sablier Airdrops campaigns. All data is pulled directly from onchain indexers.

Finding 1: Simple Schedules Win

Stream type distribution:

Linear streams dominate. Over half of all streams use a straightforward linear unlock. Tokens release continuously from start to end, with or without cliff.

Dynamic streams account for 45%, largely driven by a few large-scale distributions that used exponential or stepped release schedules.

Tranched streams, where tokens unlock in discrete chunks, represent just 2.8% of total volume. When teams do use tranches, they keep it simple: 71.5% of tranched streams have exactly one tranche, while only 3.6% use more than 20 tranches.

Takeaway: Complexity doesn't correlate with sophistication. The most successful token distributions tend to use simple, predictable schedules that recipients can easily understand.

Finding 2: Duration Varies Widely

The median and average tell different stories. The median of 63 days reflects a large volume of shorter-term use cases: grants, payroll, bounties, short contractor engagements, and promotional distributions.

The average of 9 months is pulled up by traditional vesting schedules: team allocations, investor lockups, and advisor tokens that typically run 1-4 years.

The bimodal pattern:

1. Short-term (< 90 days): Grants, payroll, bounties, seasonal rewards, airdrop vesting
2. Long-term (1-4 years): Team vesting, investor allocations, strategic partnerships

There's relatively little activity in the 3-12 month range—projects either want quick distribution or proper long-term alignment.

Finding 3: Cancelable Streams Dominate

Two-thirds of all streams are cancelable, meaning the sender retains the right to stop the stream and recover unvested tokens.

This makes sense for grants and conditional distributions where continued funding depends on deliverables. If a contributor stops working, the stream can be canceled. If an advisor relationship ends early, unvested tokens return to the treasury.

Transferable streams, where recipients can sell or transfer their vesting position, represent 37% of the total. This is particularly relevant for investor allocations, where secondary liquidity is often desired.

Takeaway: The high cancelable rate reflects the fact that teams use vesting as an accountability mechanism

Finding 4: L2s Are the New Home

Chain distribution by users:

Base leads by a wide margin. With 42% of all users, Base has become the default choice for new token distributions, driven by low fees, fast finality, and Coinbase distribution.

Arbitrum and Ethereum are nearly tied for second and third place. Ethereum still sees significant activity for high-value distributions where the mainnet security guarantees matter, while Arbitrum captures teams that want EVM compatibility with lower costs.

Polygon's 14% share is largely driven by a few large-scale airdrop campaigns. Optimism, BSC, and others each hold single-digit percentages.

Takeaway: The L2 shift is real. In 2019-2022, Ethereum mainnet was the only option. Today, over 80% of Sablier users are on L2s or alt-L1s.

Finding 5: Top Assets Tell a Story

The most-streamed assets reveal use case patterns:

A few large campaigns account for outsized stream counts. Grindery's 225K+ streams represent an ambitious community distribution program. Phavercoin's 60K streams show how social tokens are using vesting to align early community members.

WETH at 8,457 streams reflects payroll, reward distributions and contractor payments, with teams paying contributors in ETH with streaming schedules.

Stablecoin volume by protocol:

• EVM Lockup: $24.4M
• EVM Airdrops: $13.6M
• EVM Flow: $5.0M

The split shows distinct use cases: Lockup for traditional vesting, Airdrops for community distributions, and Flow for recurring payments.

Finding 6: Vested Airdrops Are Catching On

70% of airdrop campaigns now use vesting. This is a significant shift from the instant-unlock airdrops that dominated 2020-2023.

The reasons are well-documented: instant airdrops create immediate sell pressure, reward short-term farming over genuine participation, and often benefit bots more than real users. Vested airdrops align recipient incentives with long-term project success.

Additional airdrop metrics:

The 19% claim rate is notable, roughly 80% of airdrop allocations go unclaimed. This is consistent with broader industry data and highlights why recoverable unclaimed tokens are an important feature.

Top campaigns by claims have achieved 70-90% participation rates, suggesting that well-designed campaigns with proper communication can dramatically outperform the average.

Finding 7: Stream Complexity Over Time

For tranched streams, the distribution of tranches per stream:

Most tranched streams are simple cliffs—a single unlock event. This is often used for "TGE unlock" scenarios where a portion releases at token generation, with the rest vesting linearly.

Streams with 6-20 tranches typically represent quarterly or monthly unlock schedules over 1-3 years. Very few streams exceed 50 tranches, the operational complexity rarely justifies it.

For dynamic streams (custom curves):

• Median segments: 2
• Average segments: 2.19
• Max segments: 40

Even "dynamic" streams tend toward simplicity. Two segments usually means a cliff followed by linear vesting, the most common pattern for investor and team allocations.

What This Means for Your Token Distribution

1. Default to linear vesting.

Unless you have a specific reason for complexity, linear schedules are easier to communicate, easier to model, and easier for recipients to understand. The data shows most successful distributions use them.

2. Match duration to purpose.

Short-term grants and rewards: 30-90 days. Team and investor vesting: 2-4 years. Don't overthink the middle ground—it's rarely used for good reason.

3. Consider cancelability for grants.

If funding is conditional on deliverables, cancelable streams provide accountability. For investor allocations where lockup is the point, non-cancelable makes sense.

4. Evaluate L2s seriously.

Base and Arbitrum now handle the majority of token distributions. Lower fees mean you can create more streams, cover recipient gas costs, or run larger airdrop campaigns.

Methodology

This analysis covers all Sablier Lockup, Flow, and Airdrop activity across EVM chains and Solana from July 2023 through February 2026. Data is sourced from Sablier's onchain indexers.

Testnets are excluded. Stream duration statistics filter out streams under 1 day to exclude test transactions. Stablecoin volume includes USDC, USDT, DAI, and other major stablecoins normalized to USD.

The dataset represents over 534,000 streams from 376,000+ unique addresses—one of the largest samples of real-world token distribution behavior available.

Ready to start your own token distribution? Visit app.sablier.com or read the documentation.