Understanding Ethereum Supply: How Many Ethereum Are There?

There are 72 million Ethereum in existence, a number that was reached in December 2020. This is the result of the Ethereum block reward schedule, which was designed to incentivize mining and secure the network.

The Ethereum block reward schedule was established at the time of the Ethereum's initial launch, and it has remained unchanged since then. This schedule dictates that 5 new Ethereum are created every minute, or 288,000 new Ethereum per day.

Mining is a crucial part of the Ethereum network, as it allows for the validation of transactions and the creation of new blocks. This process is essential for the security and decentralization of the network.

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As of January 2022, over 9M+ ETH had been staked, worth around $30 billion, and this number is expected to grow, making the Ethereum system more decentralized.

This staked ether accounts for approximately 280,000 active validators, which will likely continue to increase.

The Ethereum upgrade, launched on 5 August 2021, has also contributed to the available amount of Ethereum by causing the burning or destroying of coins when the Ethereum blockchain is utilized to complete a transaction.

This burning of coins reduces the supply of Ethereum, which is a critical factor to consider when evaluating the cryptocurrency.

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Does Ethereum Have a Limit?

As of January 2022, a staggering 9M+ ETH had been staked, worth roughly $30 billion.

This staked ether is held by approximately 280,000 active validators.

The Ethereum upgrade, specifically EIP-1559, launched on 5 August 2021, has caused the burning or destroying of coins when the Ethereum blockchain is utilized to complete a transaction.

The Ethereum system will likely become more decentralized as the number of validators grows.

The maximum supply of Ethereum is not fixed, but its shift to proof of stake has changed the debate around its scarcity.

A lower supply relative to demand can lead to higher prices as more people attempt to buy a scarce asset.

There are roughly 120 million Ethereum tokens in circulation as of April 2022.

The upgrades from proof of work to proof of stake may reduce the supply of Ethereum, making it a deflationary asset.

The number of coins will be reduced, and the price might fall as a result.

After Ethereum's upgrade to 2.0, the supply of Ethereum is likely to change.

The upgrade will switch Ethereum to proof-of-stake (POS), which means users will validate transactions based on the number of coins they have contributed.

More staking will increase the chances of a user being selected to validate transactions on Ethereum's network and receiving a reward.

The upgrade could impact the pricing and circulation of ETH.

The future of Ethereum looks bright, with a "deflationary pressure" being added to the coin due to the EIP-1559 upgrade.

This upgrade creates an element of deflation, similar to Bitcoin and many other cryptocurrencies.

The unlimited supply of ETH allows the network to expand as demand increases, which in turn helps to "tame" the price without affecting the maximum supply.

As the network grows and more ETH enter circulation, Ethereum will continue to be a viable and popular cryptocurrency.

Ethereum's network activity is a crucial aspect to consider when understanding the total number of Ethereum in circulation.

The number of Ethereum network transactions per day on the blockchain from August 2015 to January 30, 2025, has been tracked.

Daily active Ethereum addresses up until November 9, 2022, peaked at a daily number of unique addresses that were active on the blockchain network either as a sender or receiver of Ethereum.

The average daily gas price of Ethereum from August 2015 to November 29, 2022, was in Gwei.

Ethereum's NVT ratio - the market cap against the number of transactions on the blockchain - from January 1, 2021, to January 30, 2025, has been monitored.

A transaction speed ranking of 45 crypto - including DeFi and metaverse - in 2025, showed the average transaction speed of these cryptocurrencies in minutes.

Here's a breakdown of some key network activity metrics:

The total supply of Ethereum is over 120 million ETH as of January 4th, 2024. This means that's the maximum amount of Ether that will ever exist.

The Ethereum network is inflationary, which means new Ether is regularly added to the total supply. Before The Merge, new ETH was generated from two sources, but since the shift to Proof of Stake, issuance on the execution level has completely ceased.

The daily issuance of ETH dropped from 13,000 to about 1,700. The network has an adaptive yield demand curve, aiming to strike a balance between providing new Ether and controlling the inflation rate.

Here's a breakdown of the current inflation rate: the rate is expected to drop to about 0.52% per year. The exact speed at which the inflation will fall is not fixed, but it's expected to decrease over time as network activity increases.

As the network activity grows, the number of ETH burned could be greater than the number of ETH minted, making it deflationary. This is achieved through the Ethereum monetary policy, where Ether used to pay for gas is burned, removing it from the total supply.

Mining and Proof-of-Work have been crucial components of the cryptocurrency landscape, but they also contribute to inflation.

Ethereum miners have held a significant balance of ETH, with a total of 12,439,000 ETH held on miner addresses as of September 21, 2022.

The Ethereum Proof-of-Work (ETHW) price has fluctuated over time, reaching a high of $13.41 per day on January 27, 2025.

Ethereum Classic (ETC) has also experienced price volatility, with a daily high of $4.55 on January 27, 2025.

Miners have held onto Ethereum Classic, with a circulating supply of 103.8 million tokens as of September 22, 2022.

Here's a breakdown of the circulating supply of Ethereum Classic over time:

The Ethereum Proof-of-Work price history shows that the price has been trending upwards over the past few months, with a significant increase in price from August 2022 to January 2025.

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The Ethereum network has undergone significant changes since its shift to proof of stake, which has impacted its inflation rate. The daily issuance of ETH was reduced from 13,000 to about 1,700.

Ethereum is an inflationary system, meaning new Ether is regularly added to the total supply. This is different from a deflationary system where the total supply decreases over time.

The network's goal is to strike a balance between providing enough new Ether to incentivize validators and controlling the rate of inflation to ensure the value of Ether doesn't decrease too rapidly. This is known as the "minimum viable issuance."

The exact speed at which the inflation will fall is not fixed, but it's currently expected to drop to about 0.52% per year. This means that the rate of new Ether being added to the total supply will decrease over time.

The Ethereum network has an adaptive yield demand curve, which helps it balance the rate of new Ether being added with the rate of Ether being burned. The network's goal is to make it deflationary by burning more Ether than it mints.

With enough network activity, the number of ETH burned could be greater than the number of ETH minted, making the system deflationary. This is especially true when the gas price is more than 16 gwei.

The ownership and distribution of Ethereum is a complex and somewhat mysterious topic.

Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum, is often assumed to be one of the largest holders, but this assumption is likely false.

In October 2018, Buterin revealed his ETH public address on Twitter, showing that he owns just over 0.53 ETH.

The Ethereum Foundation holds 0.297% of the total ETH supply, which is over 99% of its treasury.

Cryptocurrency exchanges, such as Binance, Kraken, and Bitfinex, also hold significant amounts of Ethereum as part of their assets to facilitate trading and other transactions.

There are approximately 120 million Ethereum tokens in circulation.

Ethereum's total supply is capped at 100 million tokens, with the remaining 20 million locked away in a contract to prevent inflation.

As of the last update, the Ethereum network has processed over 1 billion transactions.

The Ethereum blockchain has been in operation since 2015, with the first block mined on July 30th of that year.

Ethereum's popularity has led to a significant increase in its market capitalization, which currently stands at over $500 billion.

Ethereum Matters because it's the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, with a total supply of 72 million, as of the last update in 2023.

Ethereum's popularity is largely due to its versatility, allowing users to create and deploy decentralized applications (dApps) on its platform.

The total supply of Ethereum is capped at 100 million, with 72 million already in circulation, which helps maintain its value and scarcity.

Ethereum's decentralized nature and open-source code make it an attractive option for developers looking to build on its platform.

The Ethereum network processes transactions and smart contracts, making it a crucial component of the broader cryptocurrency ecosystem.