Ritual
RITUAL token · Layer 1 blockchain for AI · mainnet and token launched 26 Oct 2026
Ritual is a new Layer 1 blockchain for AI, built by named founders with a published token plan. Its token went live on 26 Oct 2026 and traded from a first-hour high of $0.09 to $0.0228 within a day. We do not judge that price move. We say “Not yet” for other reasons: only 18% of the supply trades while fully diluted value is 5.6 times the circulating market cap, supply has no cap, 51% sits with the team and investors under a one-year lock, we found no audit, and we could not read the token on a block explorer.
In plain words
Ritual is a new blockchain that wants AI programs to run on it. Its coin, RITUAL, started trading on 26 October 2026 and lost most of its first-hour price in a few hours.
The team is named, and the plan for who gets how many coins is published. Only about one coin in five can be traded now; the rest is locked and arrives later, and new coins keep being created every year.
We could not check the coin’s code or find a security audit, so we cannot say it is safe yet. The project has not answered our questions. This is not advice to buy or sell, and we do not predict the price.
NOTR is a new independent project. We send the project our questions and give it 7 days to reply; the window closes on 3 Nov 2026. Not investment advice, and we do not assess price.
“Not yet” means there are open questions that the project can answer, after which we review it again. It is not “Not ready”, and it says nothing about where the price goes.
- 1. Is it safe??Not confirmed
We found no audit report and could not read the token or its bridge contracts. The foundation and core developers decide alone for the first six months. Trading itself works: Coinbase shows real volume.
- 2. Are the price and structure fair?▲Concerns
18% of supply is free, fully diluted value is 5.6× the circulating market cap, supply has no cap (about 5% new tokens a year), and 51% is held by insiders until Oct 2027.
- 3. Does it keep its word?◐Mixed
The testnet and the 18% launch float match what was announced. Most other promises cannot be checked yet or are not due. The pitch has also changed since 2023.
Full reasoning and what would change the verdict: see below.
Summary: six findings
- Product. A Layer 1 blockchain where smart contracts can call AI models. The testnet launched in Nov 2024 (The Block); the mainnet and the token launched on 26 Oct 2026. RITUAL is the chain’s gas token, chain ID 784. Copies exist on BNB Smart Chain and Base through LayerZero (KuCoin).
- Backers. A $25M round in Nov 2023 led by Archetype, with Accomplice and Robot Ventures (Fortune). Later coverage puts the total at over $30M. Founders Niraj Pant and Akilesh Potti are both former Polychain Capital staff.
- Token. Initial supply 10B RITUAL. 1.8B (18%) was unlocked at launch. 51% (core contributors, Labs investors, Labs treasury, grants and a Foundation private sale) is locked for at least one year and cannot be staked. A community airdrop of 50M (0.5%) was unlocked at launch (The Industry Spread).
- Market. Coinbase shows $0.02278 (27 Oct, 20:21 UTC) after a first-hour high of $0.09 and a low of $0.0175. Circulating market cap is about $41.0M and fully diluted value about $227.8M, both computed by NOTR from the price and the supply the project states. FDV is 5.6× the circulating market cap.
- Supply. The project’s tokenomics page lists supply as uncapped, with issuance of about 5% a year paid to validators, AI executors and delegators and a fee burn that offsets part of it. Coinbase’s page shows a 10B maximum. Both statements are reported by media, not read by us on a chain.
- Control and security. For the first six months the foundation and core developers make protocol decisions; votes bind from month 12, which the page calls a target. We found no audit report and did not read the token or bridge contracts.
We found no sign of wrongdoing. What we have is a very young market, a thin float, an open supply rule and missing checks. This review has no on-chain (grade A) source; see Method.
In favour, and of concern
Both lists use only facts that appear in this review, with the section where each is shown.
In favour
- Named founders with press coverage, and named backers: Archetype led a $25M round (Team and backers).
- A published allocation table that adds up to 100%, with lock terms for each group; insiders cannot sell for at least one year and cannot stake locked tokens (Token and market).
- The 18% unlocked at launch matches the circulating supply shown on Coinbase (Token and market).
- The token trades on Coinbase and MEXC, with about 25,700 trades on Coinbase in the first 30 hours; it can be sold (NOTR checks).
- The testnet launched in Nov 2024 as announced, and the mainnet is live (Promises).
- Of 8 logged promises, 2 were met and none was missed; the other 6 cannot be checked yet or are not due (Promises).
Of concern
- Only 18% of supply circulates, and fully diluted value is 5.6 times the circulating market cap (Token and market).
- Supply has no cap on the project’s own page: about 5% new tokens a year, or roughly 500M, which is 28% of today’s circulating supply (Token and market).
- 51% of supply is held by the team, investors and related groups until Oct 2027, when the first part unlocks (Token and market, Risk register).
- We found no audit report, and we could not read the token or bridge contracts (NOTR checks).
- For the first six months the foundation and core developers decide alone (Business).
- Five or more unrelated tokens use the name Ritual or the ticker RITUAL on other chains; users can buy the wrong one (Token and market).
- The price fell about 75% from its first-hour high, and Coinbase traded only about $1.05M in 30 hours against a $41M circulating market cap (Token and market).
- No mainnet usage figures are published in the sources we read, and the project did not yet reply to our questions (Business, Questions).
Where we stand: “Not yet”. A project must pass all four required checks to go to a NOTR vote; Ritual has passed 1, 2 are partial and 1 needs checking, so it cannot go to a vote yet. The list above shows what would move it either way.
Business and product
Ritual describes itself as a blockchain where smart contracts can use AI models. In 2023 the founders described a decentralised cloud for AI: servers from many owners, optimised for running and fine-tuning models, with cryptographic proof of which model ran (Fortune). The launch-week pitch is “the first blockchain where smart contracts can think, see, hear, and act” (MEXC). Those are not the same promise.
| Item | Value | Source and caveat |
|---|---|---|
| Testnet | Nov 2024 | Announced after about a year of development. Mainnet timing and a token were not mentioned. The Block |
| Mainnet and token | 26 Oct 2026 | Foundation post dated 26 Oct; Coinbase and MEXC spot trading the same day. The Industry Spread, CoinGabbar |
| Chain | ID 784 · 18 decimals | RITUAL is the native gas token. Block time about 186 ms on testnet; mainnet target under 350 ms (CoinGabbar, a media page). |
| Testnet activity | 2,000+ agents · 90M+ transactions | As reported by CoinGabbar. We could not find the project’s own figures. Testnet numbers say little about mainnet use. |
| Mainnet usage | Not reported | No transactions, validators, executors or fees figures in the sources we read. |
| Governance | Foundation and core developers decide for the first 6 months | Votes are non-binding from month 6 and binding from month 12, which the page calls a target, not a deadline. The Industry Spread |
| Fees and issuance | Base fee burned; about 5% issuance | An EIP-1559-style burn offsets part of the issuance. Net supply change depends on usage. KuCoin |
We could not open Ritual’s own website, documents or chain explorer from our environment. The product facts above come from media and exchange pages.
Team, backers and legal status
| Item | What the sources say | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Founders | Niraj Pant and Akilesh Potti, co-founders in 2023. Both worked at Polychain Capital; Pant invested in more than 30 companies there; Potti came to Polychain from Palantir. | Fortune, The Block |
| Funding | $25M announced on 8 Nov 2023, led by Archetype with Accomplice and Robot Ventures. Later coverage says the total is over $30M. Other pages add Polychain Capital, Accel and dao5. | Fortune; The Block; usethebitcoin (guide site); Phemex |
| Advisors | Illia Polosukhin (NEAR co-founder) and Arthur Hayes (BitMEX co-founder), according to one summary. | Phemex, a summary of a Foresight News report; not independently verified. |
| Structure | Two bodies are named: Ritual Labs and the independent Ritual Foundation, which issues the token and runs grants. | The Block, KuCoin |
| Legal entities | Where Ritual Labs and the Ritual Foundation are registered is not stated in the sources we read. | — |
Token and market
Live numbers load here and need JavaScript. The dated figures below do not.
- 51% team, investors and related groups: core contributors 29%, Labs investors 11.3%, Labs treasury 5%, Frontier AI grants 4.7%, Foundation private sale 1%. Locked at least one year
- 25% ecosystem growth and research: 12.5% unlocked at launch, 12.5% released monthly over four years
- 14% network participation and future incentives: 0.5% airdrop unlocked at launch, 13.5% locked 15 months, then monthly to month 48
- 10% Ritual Foundation: 5% treasury unlocked at launch, 5% released over four years
Sources: The Industry Spread, KuCoin. The two pages agree on every percentage. We have not read the Foundation’s own tokenomics page. The airdrop is part of the 14%, which is why the groups add up to 100%.
- 18% (1.8B) unlocked at launch
- 51% locked at least one year, then released
- 31% released gradually: ecosystem 12.5% and Foundation 5% monthly over four years; network participation 13.5% after 15 months
Computed by NOTR on 27 Oct 2026 from the Coinbase price of $0.02278 and the supply the project states. Coinbase does not show a market cap. Phemex gives an FDV of about $220M at $0.0226.
- lock: nothing unlocks
- released monthly; bars show the outer limit (last tokens by month 48)
The per-group terms differ and the wording in the source is ambiguous: Labs investors get 50% at one year and the rest monthly to month 24; core contributors are described with two different schedules (monthly to month 24, or to month 36); the Foundation private sale vests over two years. We show the outer limit only. The ecosystem and Foundation schedules are stated as “monthly over four years” without a start date; we assume launch.
Our arithmetic, not a forecast. If those two schedules start at launch they release about 36.5M tokens a month. Issuance at 5% of 10B is about 500M a year, or roughly 41.7M a month. Together that is about 78M tokens a month, or 4.3% of today’s 1.8B circulating supply, before any insider unlock in Oct 2027.
Source: Coinbase Exchange API, read 27 Oct 2026. The line is the hourly close; thin bars show each hour’s high and low. Coinbase is one venue; other exchanges may differ. Swipe the chart sideways to see all of it. The first hour opened at $0.06 and reached $0.09; the hour starting 17:00 UTC closed at $0.0215; the low, $0.0175, came in the hour starting 20:00 UTC; since then the price has stayed between about $0.019 and $0.027. From the first-hour high of $0.09 to the last close of $0.02278 is −75%; from the first trade at $0.06 it is −62%.
Show the hourly numbers
| Hour start (UTC) | Open $ | High $ | Low $ | Close $ | Volume (tokens) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 Oct 15:00 | 0.06000 | 0.09000 | 0.05871 | 0.07787 | 0.63M |
| 26 Oct 16:00 | 0.07788 | 0.08224 | 0.05319 | 0.05550 | 1.40M |
| 26 Oct 17:00 | 0.05546 | 0.05546 | 0.02150 | 0.02150 | 4.92M |
| 26 Oct 18:00 | 0.02173 | 0.02519 | 0.02100 | 0.02211 | 5.76M |
| 26 Oct 19:00 | 0.02211 | 0.02220 | 0.01800 | 0.01846 | 5.65M |
| 26 Oct 20:00 | 0.01846 | 0.02551 | 0.01750 | 0.02487 | 4.41M |
| 26 Oct 21:00 | 0.02491 | 0.02628 | 0.02304 | 0.02493 | 2.08M |
| 26 Oct 22:00 | 0.02493 | 0.02590 | 0.02228 | 0.02531 | 1.99M |
| 26 Oct 23:00 | 0.02531 | 0.02650 | 0.02500 | 0.02583 | 0.63M |
| 27 Oct 00:00 | 0.02583 | 0.02653 | 0.02282 | 0.02282 | 1.16M |
| 27 Oct 01:00 | 0.02306 | 0.02317 | 0.01925 | 0.02002 | 3.03M |
| 27 Oct 02:00 | 0.01996 | 0.02339 | 0.01996 | 0.02314 | 0.75M |
| 27 Oct 03:00 | 0.02314 | 0.02328 | 0.02130 | 0.02290 | 0.49M |
| 27 Oct 04:00 | 0.02291 | 0.02292 | 0.02267 | 0.02268 | 0.15M |
| 27 Oct 05:00 | 0.02268 | 0.02289 | 0.02267 | 0.02282 | 0.06M |
| 27 Oct 06:00 | 0.02282 | 0.02529 | 0.02282 | 0.02420 | 0.71M |
| 27 Oct 07:00 | 0.02421 | 0.02421 | 0.02090 | 0.02167 | 0.83M |
| 27 Oct 08:00 | 0.02140 | 0.02141 | 0.02078 | 0.02141 | 0.30M |
| 27 Oct 09:00 | 0.02139 | 0.02346 | 0.02139 | 0.02337 | 0.84M |
| 27 Oct 10:00 | 0.02336 | 0.02474 | 0.02163 | 0.02207 | 1.01M |
| 27 Oct 11:00 | 0.02206 | 0.02285 | 0.02176 | 0.02222 | 0.44M |
| 27 Oct 12:00 | 0.02223 | 0.02264 | 0.02029 | 0.02029 | 0.59M |
| 27 Oct 13:00 | 0.02027 | 0.02265 | 0.02027 | 0.02097 | 0.44M |
| 27 Oct 14:00 | 0.02116 | 0.02134 | 0.02025 | 0.02029 | 0.70M |
| 27 Oct 15:00 | 0.02029 | 0.02203 | 0.02029 | 0.02121 | 0.58M |
| 27 Oct 16:00 | 0.02121 | 0.02335 | 0.02120 | 0.02199 | 1.06M |
| 27 Oct 17:00 | 0.02201 | 0.02410 | 0.02100 | 0.02127 | 1.24M |
| 27 Oct 18:00 | 0.02127 | 0.02221 | 0.02050 | 0.02120 | 0.99M |
| 27 Oct 19:00 | 0.02119 | 0.02340 | 0.02119 | 0.02199 | 0.83M |
| 27 Oct 20:00 | 0.02199 | 0.02300 | 0.02199 | 0.02278 | 0.26M |
| Item | Value | Source and caveat |
|---|---|---|
| Asset and network | Native asset, chain ID 784 Bridged: BNB Smart Chain, Base | RITUAL is the gas token of the Ritual chain. Bridged copies use LayerZero and, per KuCoin, the same token contract address; bridged tokens are locked on the Ritual chain, so they add no supply. We did not find the addresses. KuCoin |
| Initial and maximum supply | 10,000,000,000 initial no cap stated by the project | Coinbase’s page shows a 10B maximum; the project’s tokenomics page lists supply as uncapped. See Data conflicts. The Industry Spread |
| Unlocked at launch | 1,800,000,000 (18%) | Ecosystem 12.5%, Foundation treasury 5%, airdrop 0.5%. Coinbase’s page shows 1.8B circulating. Not checked on a chain. |
| Price | $0.02278 | Coinbase ticker, 27 Oct 2026, 20:21 UTC. Since launch: high $0.09, low $0.0175, first trade $0.06. |
| Market cap / FDV | $41.0M circulating FDV $227.8M | Computed by NOTR: price × 1.8B and price × 10B. CoinGabbar estimates $40.8M and $226.7M at $0.0227. FDV is 5.6× the circulating market cap. |
| Volume (Coinbase) | 21.14M RITUAL in 24h (≈ $0.48M) 43.9M since launch (≈ $1.05M) | Coinbase stats, 27 Oct 2026. Dollar values are computed by NOTR: for 24h, tokens × the last price; since launch, each hour’s tokens × that hour’s closing price. About 25,700 trades in the first 30 hours (the last trade ID Coinbase shows is 25,743). Other venues are not included. |
| Listings | Coinbase (RITUAL-USD) and MEXC (RITUAL/USDT) on 26 Oct 2026 | MEXC withdrawals opened on 27 Oct; MEXC pre-market trading was announced from 30 Sep 2026. MEXC. CoinGecko did not list the token on 27 Oct 2026 (our search returned nothing). |
| Airdrop | 50,000,000 (0.5%) | Fully unlocked at launch. One summary reports 852 qualifying wallets and 403 claims of over 20.7M tokens, about 41% of the airdrop. Phemex |
| Next unlocks | Monthly releases from launch (ecosystem, Foundation); insiders from about 26 Oct 2027 | Start dates are not stated precisely. Schedule: see the chart above. |
Same name, different token
On 27 Oct 2026 a DexScreener search for RITUAL listed at least five unrelated tokens named Ritual or RITUAL on Base, Solana and Robinhood Chain. Their market caps ran from about $1 to about $4,100, and one is named “Ritual Foundation”. None of them is the token this review is about, as far as the sources we read show. Fake claim pages also appear after big launches (CoinGabbar).
- Take contract addresses and claim links only from the project’s own channels, not from a search result.
- The real token is the native asset of the Ritual chain; the copies on BNB Smart Chain and Base should be checked against the project’s own list, which we have not seen.
Promises and deadlines
- 2 met
- 0 not met
- 6 can’t verify yet, or not due
The project is a day old, so most promises have no due date yet. We log them now and will check them as the dates arrive.
| Promise | Date | Status | What the record shows |
|---|---|---|---|
| A decentralised cloud for AI: pooled servers, inference and fine-tuning, proof of which model ran | 8 Nov 2023 | ?Can't verify | The product has since been described as a Layer 1 chain for smart contracts that call AI. The mainnet is a day old and shows no usage figures. This is a change of description, not a missed date. Fortune, MEXC |
| Launch a testnet for the Ritual chain | 18 Nov 2024 | ✓Met | The Block reported the testnet launch on 18 Nov 2024. No mainnet date or token was promised in that article. The Block |
| An independent Ritual Foundation to support adoption through grants, education and community | 18 Nov 2024 | ?Can't verify | The Foundation exists and issued the mainnet and token; 4.7% of supply is set aside for Frontier AI grants. We found no list of grants paid. The Industry Spread |
| 18% of supply unlocked at launch | 26 Oct 2026 | ✓Met | Coinbase’s page shows 1.8B circulating of 10B. Not checked on a chain. The Industry Spread |
| 50M RITUAL airdrop, fully unlocked at launch with no vesting | 26 Oct 2026 | ?Can't verify | One summary reports 403 claims of over 20.7M tokens so far. Not checked on a chain; the project’s page said further claim details would follow. Phemex |
| Insider tokens locked at least 12 months and not stakeable | 26 Oct 2026 | ?Not due | Needs the lock contracts to be read. First check date: about 26 Oct 2027. |
| Foundation and core developers decide alone for the first 6 months; signals non-binding from month 6 | 26 Oct 2026 | ?Not due | Check date: about 26 Apr 2027. The Industry Spread |
| Votes become binding from month 12 (a target, not a deadline) | 26 Oct 2026 | ?Not due | Check date: about 26 Oct 2027. |
NOTR entry-gate checks
A project must pass all four required checks to go to a NOTR vote. So far: 1 passed, 2 partial, 1 needs checking. The open checks need the chain explorer and the project’s own documents, which we could not open from our environment.
| Check | Result | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Contract verified on the explorer (required) | ?Needs checking | RITUAL is the native asset of the Ritual chain, so there is no Ethereum token contract to verify. The bridged copies on BNB Smart Chain and Base have addresses we did not find. We did not open the Ritual chain explorer. |
| No hidden mint or admin rights (required) | ◐Partial | New supply is not hidden: the project states uncapped supply with about 5% issuance. Who can change the issuance rate, and who controls the LayerZero bridge contracts, we did not read. |
| Token can be sold (required) | ✓Passed | Coinbase shows about 25,700 trades and 43.9M tokens traded in the first 30 hours, including the fall to $0.0175. MEXC lists it too. We did not run a sell test. |
| Links match (required) | ◐Partial | Media pages agree on the launch facts, but we have not seen the project’s own site or documents list the addresses. At least five unrelated tokens use the same name or ticker on other chains. |
| Audit | ?Needs checking | We found no audit report for the chain, the token or the bridge in the sources we read. |
| Known team | ◐Partial | Founders and lead investor are named in the press. The legal entities and their registration are not stated. |
| Open distribution and unlock schedule | ◐Partial | Full percentages and lock terms are published; two media pages agree. Some per-group terms are ambiguous and we have not read the Foundation’s own page. |
Risk register
| Risk | Level | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Float and valuation gap | ◆Medium | 18% of supply circulates; fully diluted value ($227.8M) is 5.6× the circulating market cap ($41.0M). |
| Uncapped supply and issuance | ◆Medium | About 5% a year, roughly 500M tokens, which is 28% of today’s float. A fee burn offsets part of it; the net depends on use. |
| Insider unlocks | ◆Medium | 51% of supply is locked for one year. Labs investors receive 50% of their 11.3% at the one-year mark, about 5.65% of supply at once, if the source wording is right. |
| Security and audit | ?Unknown | No audit report found for the chain, token or bridge. This is a gap in what we found, not a finding of a defect. |
| Contracts and bridge not read | ◆Medium | Bridged copies depend on LayerZero and on tokens locked on the Ritual chain. Addresses and admin rights not read. |
| Decision rights | ◆Medium | The foundation and core developers decide alone for six months; locked tokens carry no vote until they unlock. |
| Wrong-token risk | ◆Medium | At least five unrelated tokens use the name or the ticker on Base, Solana and Robinhood Chain. |
| Very young market | ◆Medium | One day of trading. The price fell about 75% from the first-hour high. Coinbase traded about $1.05M in 30 hours against a $41M circulating market cap. |
| Usage unproven | ◆Medium | No mainnet usage figures in the sources. Testnet figures are second-hand. |
| Legal entity and jurisdiction | ◆Medium | Registration of Ritual Labs and the Ritual Foundation not found. |
| Data quality of our own sources | ◆Medium | No grade A source. Most figures come from media and exchange pages, several of them summaries of other reports. |
Data conflicts we found
| Item | Version A | Version B |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum supply | Uncapped, about 5% issuance (the project’s tokenomics page, as reported by The Industry Spread, KuCoin, TokenPost) | 10B maximum (Coinbase’s page, as reported by The Industry Spread) |
| Size of the fall | −72%, from $0.08 to $0.0226 (Phemex) | Coinbase: high $0.09, first trade $0.06, last $0.02278. −75% from the high, −62% from the first trade. The two are different starting points, not the same measurement |
| Total funding | $25M (Fortune, Nov 2023) | over $30M (The Block 2024, Phemex 2026) |
| Airdrop wallets | Number not public before launch (usethebitcoin) | 852 qualifying wallets, 403 claims (Phemex, citing Foresight News) |
| Core contributors’ unlock | Monthly to month 24 after a one-year lock | Monthly to month 36 (both readings appear in The Industry Spread’s wording) |
| Market cap | None shown by Coinbase | $40.8M circulating and $226.7M FDV (CoinGabbar), $41.0M and $227.8M (NOTR); differences come from the price used |
Verdict and reasoning
Not yet. We answer NOTR’s three questions from public facts, as of 27 Oct 2026.
1. Is it safe? Not confirmed
- We found no audit report, and we did not read the token, the bridge or the chain’s code.
- The token trades on two large exchanges and can be sold, which is the one safety check that passes.
- For six months the foundation and core developers decide alone; locked tokens carry no vote.
2. Are the price and structure fair? Concerns
- 18% float against a 5.6× fully diluted value, with 51% held by insiders until Oct 2027.
- No supply cap and about 5% issuance a year.
- The allocation is published and adds up, and the airdrop is small (0.5%), so most of the supply sits with the team, its investors and the Foundation. We cannot judge the entry price of the investors; it is not published.
- The price move since launch is not part of this answer. A price can fall for many reasons, and a rise would not change it.
3. Does it keep its word? Mixed
- The testnet (Nov 2024) and the 18% float (Oct 2026) match the announcements. Nothing was missed.
- Six of eight logged promises cannot be checked yet or are not due; the next check dates are Apr 2027 and Oct 2027.
- The pitch changed from a decentralised cloud for AI (2023) to a Layer 1 chain for AI-aware smart contracts (2026). That is a change in what was promised, and we will ask about it.
What would change our view
- Towards “Ready”: a published independent audit of the chain, the token and the bridge; the project’s own documents listing the token addresses on each chain; a clear answer on maximum supply and who controls issuance; the holders of the 1.8B float and the lock contracts for the insider 51%; and mainnet usage figures.
- Towards “Not ready”: addresses in the project’s documents that differ from what is traded; a hidden mint or admin right over the bridged tokens; unlock terms shorter than stated; or issuance that can be raised by a small group without notice.
We will update this page when the project answers or the facts change. Not investment advice, and we do not assess price.
Questions for the projectReply window to 3 Nov
- What are the RITUAL contract addresses on BNB Smart Chain and Base, who controls the LayerZero bridge contracts, and where are they listed in your own documents?
- Is supply uncapped with about 5% issuance, or is 10B the maximum, as Coinbase shows? Who can change the issuance rate, and how?
- Which wallets or contracts hold the 1.8B unlocked tokens (12.5% ecosystem, 5% Foundation treasury, 0.5% airdrop)?
- What exactly are the unlock terms for each insider group, and what price did the Labs investors and the 1% Foundation private sale pay?
- Has an independent audit of the chain, the token and the bridge been published? Please share the reports.
- How many validators and executors run on mainnet, and what are the mainnet transactions, active agents and fees so far?
- Which legal entities issue and operate RITUAL, and where are Ritual Labs and the Ritual Foundation registered?
- How many airdrop wallets were eligible, how many have claimed, and what happens to unclaimed tokens?
- In 2023 Ritual described a decentralised cloud for AI; in 2026 it describes a chain where smart contracts can think, see, hear and act. What changed, and which of the original promises still stand?
We are sending these questions by direct message on X on 27 Oct 2026. Reply deadline: 3 Nov 2026 (7 days). Replies will be published next to this review, unedited, with their dates.
Method, selection and limits
Why this project. Its token launched yesterday, it was widely discussed, it is not a top asset, its token terms are documented and it made dated public statements we can track. We did not pick it for any view on price.
What we did:
- Read press coverage, exchange announcements and tokenomics summaries, and compared them with each other; the percentages agree across sources.
- Read the Coinbase Exchange public data for RITUAL-USD (ticker, 24h stats and hourly candles) on 27 Oct 2026, and computed market cap, fully diluted value and dollar volume from the price and the supply the project states.
- Searched CoinGecko (no listing found) and DexScreener (several unrelated tokens with the same name).
- Logged each public promise with its date, and listed every conflict between sources.
- Prepared nine questions for the project.
What we did not do:
- Read the chain, the token or bridge contracts, the lock contracts or any block explorer: we did not find the addresses, and the Ritual chain explorer is not one we could open.
- Read Ritual’s own website, documents, tokenomics page or audit reports; they could not be opened from our environment.
- Run a sell test or measure usage on the mainnet.
Source grades: A is on-chain data read from a block explorer. B is independent media or a data site. C is a company release, aggregator, wiki or AI-generated page. This review has no grade A source. Market data as of 27 Oct 2026, about 20:20 UTC; prices change by the minute.
Disclosure: the author holds no position in RITUAL. The project did not pay NOTR and had no influence on the text.
Updates
- 27 Oct 2026: published. Data as of 27 Oct 2026, about 20:20 UTC. Nine questions are being sent to the project; the reply window runs to 3 Nov 2026. The verdict is provisional until then.
Glossary: the terms in plain words
Click a term to open its explanation. Underlined words in the text above link here.
Layer 1 (L1)
A blockchain with its own network of computers and its own coin, rather than one built on top of another chain. Ritual’s coin pays the fees on its chain.
Fully diluted value (FDV)
The price multiplied by the total supply that will ever exist, including tokens not yet released. It shows how large the project would be valued if all tokens traded at today’s price.
Circulating and unlocked supply
Circulating supply is the tokens trading freely now. Unlocked supply also counts tokens that are released but may not be on the market. Websites use different definitions, which is why their numbers can differ.
Float
The share of tokens actually available to trade. With a low float few tokens trade, so the price can move a lot on little money.
Vesting
A schedule that releases tokens to a group, such as the team or investors, gradually instead of all at once. Each release is called an unlock, and each unlock adds supply that buyers have to absorb.
Cliff and lock-up
A waiting period at the start of vesting during which nothing is released. After a 12-month lock, tokens start to unlock.
Issuance and burn
Issuance is new tokens created by the network, usually paid to the computers that run it. A burn destroys tokens, for example part of each transaction fee. Supply grows when issuance is larger than the burn.
Staking and delegating
Staking means locking tokens to help run the network and earn rewards. Delegating means lending your tokens’ weight to someone who runs a node. Locked tokens that cannot be staked earn nothing from this.
Audit
A review of a project’s contract code by an outside security firm. It can find bugs. It does not guarantee that the code is safe or that the project will succeed.
Block explorer
A public website that shows what is on a blockchain: a token’s supply, its holders, every transfer and the contract code. Anyone can check it without an account.
Bridge and bridged token
A bridge locks a token on one chain and issues a copy on another. The copy is worth something only while the originals stay locked and the bridge works. LayerZero is one such bridge system.
TGE (token generation event)
The day a project’s token is first created and released to the public.
Airdrop
Free tokens given to selected users, usually as a reward for past use of a project.
Sources
- Coinbase Exchange API: RITUAL-USD ticker, 24h stats and hourly candles, read 27 Oct 2026 (B)
- The Industry Spread: Ritual mainnet unlocks 18% and locks insiders out of stake (B)
- TokenPost: Ritual launches mainnet with 18% of RITUAL supply unlocked, 26 Oct 2026 (B)
- Fortune: two former Polychain partners raise $25 million for Ritual, 8 Nov 2023 (B)
- The Block: Ritual launches testnet, 18 Nov 2024 (B)
- KuCoin: Ritual mainnet launches, RITUAL tokenomics, supply and airdrop details, 27 Oct 2026 (C, exchange)
- MEXC: Ritual (RITUAL) pre-market announcement (C, exchange)
- CoinGabbar: Ritual mainnet launch, Coinbase listing, airdrop and price, 27 Oct 2026 (C)
- Phemex News: Ritual launches AI Layer 1 mainnet, price dives 72% from high (C, summary of Foresight News)
- usethebitcoin: Ritual airdrop guide (C)
- DexScreener: search for RITUAL, 27 Oct 2026 (C, aggregator)