Max Supply

Max supply is the hard cap on the total number of tokens that will ever be created for a given cryptocurrency. Not all cryptocurrencies have a max supply — some, like Ethereum, have no hard cap (though they use burning mechanisms to reduce net issuance).

Examples: - Bitcoin (BTC): 21,000,000 max supply — the most famous hard cap in crypto - Litecoin (LTC): 84,000,000 max supply - Cardano (ADA): 45,000,000,000 max supply - Ethereum (ETH): no hard cap, but burns fees via EIP-1559 - Solana (SOL): no hard cap, inflationary with decreasing rate

Why max supply matters for investors: - Scarcity: fixed supply means demand growth is the primary price driver - Inflation: tokens without a max supply can dilute holders over time - Bitcoin's supply schedule: new BTC is created through mining rewards, with supply growth halving every ~4 years until 2140

The "stock-to-flow" model uses Bitcoin's max supply and issuance schedule to model its price. While controversial, it highlights how Bitcoin's predictable scarcity drives long-term value narratives.

For altcoins: always check max supply against circulating supply (FDV analysis). A token with $100M market cap but $10B FDV is priced as if the project is worth $10B at full dilution — extremely optimistic for most early-stage projects.

According to Glassnode data (2024), approximately 19.8 million of Bitcoin's 21 million max supply had been mined by early 2025, with the remaining 1.2 million BTC scheduled to be released over the next 115+ years through progressively smaller mining rewards.