What Is Total Supply
Total supply is the total number of coins or tokens that have been created and are in existence for a particular cryptocurrency. This includes all coins that have been minted, mined, or otherwise created, minus any that have been permanently removed from circulation through burning. It does not include coins that are yet to be issued in the future.
The origin of the total supply concept comes from traditional economics, where the supply of currency impacts its value. In the cryptocurrency space, total supply impacts market dynamics and investor sentiment. This metric is crucial for investors and users as it helps assess the scarcity, inflation, and potential long-term value of a cryptocurrency.
Circulating Supply vs Total Supply vs Max Supply. How Are They Different?
Although often confused, total supply is different from other supply metrics, such as circulating supply or max supply.
Circulating supply is the number of coins currently available on the market for trading and transactions. It excludes locked, staked, or reserved tokens.
Total supply of a cryptocurrency refers to the total number of existing coins or tokens, including those that are locked or staked. It includes circulating supply.
Max supply is the absolute limit of how many coins can ever be created. Some cryptocurrencies have no max supply.
How Is Total Supply Calculated?
Total supply is calculated by taking the sum of all coins that have been mined or issued and subtracting any that have been verifiably burned, or permanently removed from circulation.
How Does Total Supply Impact a Coin's Price?
Total supply plays a crucial role in determining a cryptocurrency's market value and scarcity. Here's how:
Scarcity & Demand: The lower the total supply, the more scarce and potentially valuable an asset becomes. Bitcoin is scarce, while Dogecoin is inflationary.
Market Capitalization: Market Cap = Price x Circulating Supply. A cryptocurrency with a large total supply will typically have a lower per-unit price (e.g., SHIB or DOGE).
Inflation vs. Deflation: Some cryptocurrencies, like Ethereum and Pepe, burn tokens to control inflation, while others, like Dogecoin, have an ever-expanding supply.
Investor Perception: Coins with low supply caps (e.g., BTC) often attract long-term investors seeking deflationary assets.
How does Total Supply Work for Different Currencies?
Generally speaking, total supply can work in three ways:
Growing total supply, capped max supply
For many cryptocurrencies with a capped supply, such as Bitcoin, the total supply Is less than the maximum supply, but will eventually reach it as all coins are mined or minted. Once all bitcoins are mined, the total supply will equal the max supply and stay at 21 million.
Litecoin has a max supply of 84 million coins. Similar to Bitcoin, its total supply Is currently growing but will eventually reach the max supply.
Growing total supply, unlimited max supply
Ethereum does not have a fixed max supply. Initially, it had a total supply that was growing, and while there are mechanIsms in place (like EIP-1559) that can reduce the supply through burning, there is no hard cap on the total supply. This means that the total supply can continue to grow indefinitely.
Cardano has a max supply of 45 billion coins. The total supply is currently growing as new coins are minted through the staking process until they reach the max supply.
Fixed total supply
When Ripple was created, a total of 100 billion XRP coins were generated at once. This total supply is fixed, meaning that there will never be more than 100 billion XRP in existence. While a significant portion of these tokens is held in escrow and released periodically, the max supply remains capped at 100 billion, making the total supply equal to the max supply.
What Is the Total Bitcoin Supply?
Bitcoin has a fixed maximum supply of 21 million BTC, which is hardcoded into its protocol. Currently, The total supply of Bitcoin is around 19.6 million BTC, meaning less than 1.4 million remain to be mined in the future.
Why does Bitcoin have a limited supply?
Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin's creator, designed Bitcoin's total supply to be capped to ensure scarcity—similar to gold—making Bitcoin deflationary over time.
What happens when all Bitcoin Is mined?
No more new BTC will be created. Miners will earn transaction fees instead of block rewards. This is expected to happen in year 2140, in 160 years, after 1.5 million more bitcoins are mined.
Bitcoin's predictable issuance schedule makes it one of the most transparent and scarce digital assets in existence.
What Is Ethereum's Total Supply?
As of 2025, the Ethereum total supply is approximately 120.5 million ETH.
Does Ethereum Have a Total Supply Limit?
Ethereum is different from Bitcoin because it does not have a fixed maximum supply. Instead, Ethereum's total supply grows as new ETH is created through staking rewards.
With the Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP-1559), part of every gas fee is burned, reducing inflation. This means Ethereum could become deflationary in periods of high demand.
What Is the Total Ripple Supply?
Ripple's native token, XRP, has a total supply of 100 billion tokens. However, not all of these are circulating.
A large portion of the total Ripple supply is held in escrow by Ripple Labs, which releases 1 billion XRP per month into circulation.
As of 2024, the circulating supply is around 55 billion XRP, while the remaining XRP is gradually introduced over time.
This controlled release mechanism helps prevent market flooding and stabilizes XRP's value.
What Is the Shiba Inu Total Supply?
The Shiba Inu total supply was originally 1 quadrillion SHIB, making it one of the highest-supply cryptocurrencies ever created. However, significant portions have been burned:
410 trillion SHIB were burned by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin May 2021, drastically reducing the total supply.
In November 2024 a remarkable surge in the burn rate was recorded, with around 2 billion SHIB tokens destroyed, representing a 7,400% increase
In January 2025, the burn rate soared by 856%, resulting in the removal of approximately 6.27 million SHIB tokens from circulation within a 24-hour period.
Currently, around 589 trillion SHIB are in circulation. Despite its large supply, SHIB has gained traction due to community-driven token burns and increasing adoption in decentralized finance (DeFi).
What Is Dogecoin's Total Supply?
Unlike Bitcoin, Dogecoin does not have a maximum supply cap, meaning new DOGE is continuously mined. As of 2025, over 140 billion DOGE exist, with 10,000 new DOGE mined every minute.
Dogecoin's total supply is inflationary, meaning more tokens are added each year, which affects long-term scarcity and price stability. This inflationary model keeps transaction costs low and ensures miners always have incentives to secure the network.
What Is Pepe's Total Supply?
Pepe is a meme coin that has gained popularity in recent years. When it was created, Pepe total supply was 420.69 trillion tokens. This amount was reduced to 420.68T PEPE through a burn mechanism built into the token's smart contract.
1% of every transaction is burned, gradually reducing the circulating supply over time. This deflationary feature is designed to increase scarcity as trading volume grows.
Unlike Dogecoin, which has an unlimited supply, Pepe uses built-in supply reduction mechanisms to enhance long-term value.
