Total Supply

Total supply in cryptocurrency refers to the total number of coins or tokens that currently exist on a blockchain, including those that are in circulation and those that are locked, reserved, or yet to be released. It represents the total number of units that have been created, minus any that have been burned or permanently removed from supply.

Total supply differs from circulating supply, which only accounts for tokens actively available for trading, and maximum supply, which defines the hard cap on how many tokens can ever exist in a network.

The total supply of a cryptocurrency can impact its value, scarcity, and inflation rate. Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin have a fixed total supply of 21 million coins, while others, like Ethereum, have an adaptive supply mechanism that changes over time.