Like many cryptocurrencies, the supply of Ethereum on the market is constantly changing, as new blocks are mined in the blockchain. Currently, Ethereum is the most popular altcoin (alternative to Bitcoin) on the market, and has been the top altcoin for a long time.
Read on to find out everything you need to know about the availability of Ethereum tokens today.
How Many Ethereum Are There in 2023?
There is a total of 121,826,163.06 ETH or Ethereum coins in circulation (Q1: Year 2023). Notably, Ethereum is different from Bitcoin. While there can only ever be 21 million BTC (Bitcoins) in circulation, Ethereum’s supply is potentially unlimited.
When Vitalik Buterin created Ethereum, he made the network suitable for an unlimited amount of coins. This prevents ETH from having a fixed security budget.
(CoinMarketCap)
Exploring the Number of Ethereum Coins Available
Ethereum is the world’s most popular altcoin, operating on a different principle from Bitcoin. There’s no specific Ethereum supply cap, which means the total number of coins in circulation will continue to increase for as long as people mine the blockchain.
A total of 18 million ETH coins can be mined per year.
While there’s essentially no limit on the number of Ethereum coins we can mine in total, there are caps on the number of coins anyone can mine in a specific time frame.
According to the explanation on the Ethereum coin limit shared by Vitalik Buterin, it’s only possible to mine 18 million ETH coins per year. This equates to around 2 ETH being mined per block in the Ethereum blockchain.
(Ethereum.org)
There are 135.3 billion ETC (Ethereum Classic coins) in circulation.
When looking at the circulating supply of Ethereum, it’s worth noting there are two different types of coins on offer. The most common and popular coin is ETH.
However, a disagreement between members of the Ethereum community meant a new blockchain was created called “ETC” or Ethereum Classic. Both of these coins use the same technology platforms and have a similar formal roadmap for development.
(CoinMarketCap)
In 2021, the size of the Ethereum blockchain was 175 GB.
Though the exact size of the Ethereum blockchain today is difficult to estimate, we do have some insights into how large it might be. Peter Szilagyi, a team lead and the lead developer of the Go implementation of the Ethereum protocol, revealed the blockchain was 175 GB large in 2021.
In comparison, a node of Bitcoin is approximately 412 GB. While Ethereum is currently generating more data than Bitcoin, the Bitcoin blockchain is still much larger.
(Peter Szilagyi, Twitter)
There are 5750 blocks of Ethereum mined per day.
There are around 5750 Ethereum blocks mined per day as of June 2022. This is a reduction of around 11.61% from the same period in 2021, and insight into how the Ethereum coin limit is maintained. According to some calculators, the average number of Ethereum blocks an individual could mine per hour at a hash rate of 2500 would be 0.00134985 ETH.
With more miners contributing additional power to the network, the difficulty of mining Ethereum has increased dramatically over the last year. This means even if you mine a full block in a matter of seconds, you’ll only get a small amount of Ethereum.
(YCharts)
There are around 2,151 nodes running on the Ethereum network.
The most active country contributing to the amount of Ethereum in circulation is the USA. Around 1,060 of the full 2,151 nodes active right now are located in the US. The United Kingdom is the second biggest player, with 205 nodes.
(Etherscan)
Ehereum has the potential to become deflationary.
Because there’s no limit on the Ethereum total supply available to be mined in the long term, there are some potential risks. According to a disclaimer published on GitHub, if more money is burned on the cost of mining ETH than the value of the rewards, it could become deflationary.
(GitHub)
Understanding the Total Ethereum Supply
Ultimately, while there’s no chance of ETH running out any time soon, there are still limits on what people can reasonably mine and contribute to the current circulation. Right now, the supply of Ethereum continues to grow at a rapid pace, as it remains the number one altcoin on the market.
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