UNUS SED LEO Price Today

The current real-time UNUS SED LEO price is $9.10 . LEO price has grew by 1.46% in the last day and decreased by 2.95% in the last seven days. It’s important to note that the current UNUS SED LEO market capitalization is $8,411,976,409. The maximum supply is coins, with a circulating supply of 924,416,065.90. LEO is ranked #22 in terms of market cap.

The Basics of UNUS SED LEO

UNUS SED LEO is a cryptocurrency created in 2019 by iFinex (the company behind the Bitfinex exchange). The primary purpose of UNUS SED LEO is to act as a utility token on the Bitfinex crypto trading platform. While Unus Sed Leo Limited released the project’s whitepaper and issued LEO tokens, that company is owned by iFinex, which also owns the Bitfinex exchange which we've reviewed. 

The project derives its name from the Latin version of an ancient Greek fable. Launched in 2019, UNUS SED LEO provides several benefits when using iFinex products, such as reduced trading fees.

Although UNUS SED LEO is one of the largest cryptocurrencies on the planet by market cap, it usually has low trading volume, indicating that people seldom buy and sell the asset. Instead, its value primarily comes from its use on the Bitfinex crypto exchange. 

How UNUS SED LEO Functions

While UNUS SED LEO is the project name, LEO is the name of its token, which trades on Bitfinex. UNUS SED LEO was built on the EOS and Ethereum networks, meaning that each version of LEO will have unique attributes, settlement times, fees, and security systems. 

UNUS SED LEO and the LEO token were initially created by iFinex to compensate for a shortfall in its funds. The shortfall resulted from an alleged illegal transfer of money between Bitfinex and Tether, which saw Bitfinex’s payment processor’s funds held by the government. 

LEO uses the underlying architecture of the Ethereum and EOS blockchains. Of the asset’s initial one billion token supply, 64% were allocated to Ethereum, while 36% were distributed on the EOS network. 

In order to bolster token value and reward its supporters and early Initial Exchange Offering (IEO) investors, iFinex holds a monthly token buyback and burn event, where the company purchases LEO tokens at the current market rate using 27% of its profits for that month, reducing the remaining supply of tokens and pushing up the value of the remaining LEO. 

What Makes UNUS SED LEO Unique?

Bitfinex has stated that it aims to compensate IEO investors who pledged money to the company via its buyback program. iFinex will use its profits to buy back and burn every single LEO token until no more are circulating. Once the buyback is complete, LEO will no longer exist. 

As iFinex has committed to buying back LEO tokens at the current market rate, the token will, in theory, continually grow in value as supply decreases and demand is maintained. As such, the buyback could heavily inflate the value of LEO before the token is wiped from existence. 

LEO Price History

Instead of hosting an Initial Coin Offering, UNUS SED LEO was sold to investors through an IEO on the Bitfinex exchange, likely due to the token being directly tied to the platform. A total of one billion LEO was sold to investors for Tether (USDT) at a 1:1 ratio. The IEO lasted ten days and raised a massive $1 billion.

LEO launched in June 2019, trading at around $1. However, the asset quickly built momentum resulting from Bitfinex’s recovery plan and positive sentiment around the LEO token, hitting $1.9722 by mid-July. Over the following months, this growth was wiped out, and LEO fell as low as $0.8172 by late December 2019. 

Throughout 2020, LEO slowly gained value and gained the attention of investors. As the pandemic led to severe volatility in the crypto market, LEO steadily recovered, hitting $1.36 by December 2020. Going into 2021, LEO experienced volatility but grew sharply alongside the bull run, rising to $3.7219 by the end of the year. 

Early 2022 saw LEO rise to an all-time high of $7.50, but it was unable to maintain its valuation in the bear market, falling steadily before plateauing around $3.60 by early 2023. As the crypto market surged, LEO rose to around $4 by the end of 2023. Throughout 2024, the iFinex ecosystem and Bitfinex continued growing, leading LEO to its current price at $9.10 .