The total number of cryptocurrency coins or tokens available and actively circulating in the market.
Circulating supply is a significant metric in the world of cryptocurrency. It represents the total number of coins or tokens of a specific cryptocurrency that are available in the market and actively circulating among the public. Circulating supply excludes locked, reserved, or unmined coins and is a crucial factor in determining the cryptocurrency's market value and price.
Circulating supply is a dynamic figure that can change over time due to factors such as mining rewards, token burns, and token distributions. It is different from the total supply, which includes all the coins or tokens ever created for a particular cryptocurrency, regardless of whether they are actively circulating or not.
Understanding the concept of circulating supply is essential for various reasons:
Let's consider an example to illustrate circulating supply:
Example:
Cryptocurrency XYZ has a total supply of 1,000,000 coins. However, 300,000 coins are held by the development team and are not actively circulating. The circulating supply of XYZ would be 700,000 coins (1,000,000 total supply - 300,000 non-circulating coins).