SEI's Path to Price Realization: Can Growing Network Utility Outpace Short-Term Supply Pressures?

The Sei blockchain (SEI) has emerged as a compelling case study in the interplay between network utility growth and token price dynamics. Despite a nearly 90% decline in its token price from all-time highs, SEI has demonstrated robust real-world adoption metrics in 2025, including surging transaction volumes, expanding dApp ecosystems, and institutional partnerships. However, looming token unlocks and exchange maintenance risks threaten to create bearish pressure. This analysis evaluates whether Sei's expanding utility and institutional traction can drive price discovery, or if short-term supply-side challenges will dominate.

Network Utility: A Foundation for Long-Term Value

Sei's 2025 growth metrics underscore its transition from a speculative asset to a functional infrastructure layer. By Q3 2025, the network achieved a 93.5% quarter-over-quarter increase in daily active addresses, reaching 824,000, with gaming alone contributing 116 million transactions and 800,000 daily users. By late 2025, daily active addresses spiked to 1.3–1.4 million, while daily transaction volumes consistently exceeded two million. These figures highlight Sei's role in decentralized finance (DeFi) and gaming, where its high-performance architecture-capable of 200,000 transactions per second-has attracted both developers and users.

DApp adoption further reinforces this trend. Takara Lend, a DeFi lending protocol, surpassed 80,000 unique users in 2025, distributing $16 million in rewards. Meanwhile, the P2P stablecoin supply on Sei surged 157% to $78.4 million, reflecting growing demand for on-chain liquidity and settlement. Such metrics suggest that Sei's utility is no longer confined to speculative trading but is increasingly embedded in real-world financial and gaming ecosystems.

Institutional Traction: Bridging Web3 and Traditional Finance

Institutional partnerships in 2025 positioned Sei as a bridge between decentralized infrastructure and traditional finance. Collaborations with BlackRock, Apollo, and Hamilton Lane focused on real-world assets (RWAs), leveraging Sei's Market Infrastructure Grids to tokenize assets like real estate and commodities. Simultaneously, the Xiaomi partnership-a landmark integration-pre-installed the Sei Wallet on Xiaomi smartphones sold outside China and the U.S., potentially reaching hundreds of millions of users. This move transformed Sei into a payments layer, with stablecoin transactions enabled across 20,000 retail stores in Hong Kong and the EU.

Regulatory credibility also grew as SEI gained inclusion in products like Vanguard's DIME ETF and CoinShares' Staked SEI ETP. These developments signal growing institutional confidence in Sei's infrastructure, which could drive sustained demand for its token as a utility asset rather than a speculative one.

Supply Pressures: Unlocks and Exchange Risks

Despite these positives, Sei faces significant short-term headwinds. A major token unlock on January 15, 2026 will release 55.56 million SEI tokens (1.05% of total supply), valued at $6.7 million. Historical precedents, such as an 8% price drop following a December 2025 unlock, suggest market absorption of these tokens may be challenging. Additionally, exchange maintenance risks-such as Upbit's temporary halt of SEI deposits and withdrawals in January 2026-could strain liquidity if repeated.

These pressures are compounded by broader market trends. September 2025 saw over $4.5 billion in token unlocks across projects like SUI and ENA, testing market liquidity and creating volatility. For Sei, the challenge lies in balancing these supply-side risks with the demand generated by its expanding utility.

Market Dynamics and Investor Sentiment

Technical and fundamental analyses offer mixed signals. As of late 2025, SEI traded near critical support levels, with analysts noting a potential reversal from a prolonged downtrend. A 73% price surge in June 2025-pushing the market cap past $1.5 billion-was attributed to the Giga upgrade, which enhanced the network's throughput and scalability. While price targets range from $0.45 to $1.20 by 2026, these depend heavily on macroeconomic conditions and institutional adoption.

Investor sentiment remains cautiously optimistic. The Wyoming pilot project and Circle's IPO-revealing SEI as the largest crypto token on its balance sheet-have bolstered the token's visibility. However, macroeconomic risks, such as U.S. tariff wars, continue to weigh on the broader DeFi ecosystem.

Conclusion: A Tug-of-War Between Utility and Supply

Sei's path to price realization hinges on whether its growing utility and institutional traction can outpace short-term supply pressures. The network's 1.5 million daily active addresses and strategic partnerships with Xiaomi and BlackRock demonstrate a strong foundation for long-term value. However, token unlocks and exchange risks could create near-term volatility, particularly if market liquidity remains constrained.

For investors, the key lies in timing. While supply-side challenges are inevitable, Sei's real-world adoption-particularly in gaming, DeFi, and institutional-grade infrastructure-suggests that demand could eventually absorb these pressures. The coming months will test whether Sei's utility-driven growth can translate into sustained price appreciation, or if short-term bearish forces will dominate.