Aligned launched ALIGN, its native token, on August 20 at 15:00 UTC with a total supply of 10 billion tokens and approximately 16 percent in circulation at token generation event, according to the announcement.
The token functions as the payment mechanism for services across Aligned's Ethereum stack, including Proof Aggregation and planned Wallet-as-a-Service offerings. Aligned operates as a verification layer built on top of Ethereum, providing infrastructure that processes and aggregates validity proofs for transactions and applications.
Aligned's stack includes a proving layer that lets developers batch and compress transactions into a single proof, reducing on-chain verification costs. The token distributes access to these computational services rather than governance or validator participation. The proof aggregation work itself runs on Aligned's own infrastructure separate from Ethereum mainnet, though proofs ultimately settle on Ethereum.
Token distribution breaks into several categories, according to the announcement. The team and investors hold portions reserved over vesting schedules typical of infrastructure projects. Public allocation at launch represents the 16 percent circulating supply available to holders from the token generation event onward.
Aligned raised $200 million in a Series B funding round in early 2024, backed by investors including Polychain Capital and Coinbase Ventures, establishing the company as a significant player in Ethereum scaling infrastructure. The launch extends Aligned's transition from funded protocol to tokenized economic system where users pay for services in ALIGN rather than external assets.
The token launch follows a months-long period of development on Aligned's proving network and partnerships with application layers using its compression technology. Wallet-as-a-Service, the next major service to accept ALIGN payments, remains in development phases according to the company's previous technical updates.
Aligned's 10 billion token supply at launch compares to Lido's 1 billion LDO total supply and EigenLayer's 1.72 billion EIGEN circulating at equivalent stages, placing ALIGN among the higher-supply infrastructure tokens. The circulating percentage at launch aligns with infrastructure projects that space vesting heavily across team and early backers to reduce initial sell pressure.
