How Many Ethereum Are There, and How Many Are Left?

Salomon Kisters

Apr 11, 2022

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The popularity of Ethereum has increased significantly.

And one of the first questions asked by Ethereum enthusiasts is how many Ethereum are in circulation.

Also, how many Ethereum are left to mine.

The simple answer is that, as of April 2022, over 120 million coins of Ethereum are in circulation.

As you can see, the economics of Ethereum is quite different from the economics of Bitcoin.

Therefore, we should never confuse them, as they have different strategies for the circulation of coins.

Moreover, for beginners, all these things seem pretty complicated. Hence, this article will provide you with insights regarding the Ethereum being in circulation.

Let’s dive right in.

Ethereum - An Overview

Before digging deep into our main topic, let us share some basic details regarding Ethereum that will surely lend a helping hand in making you understand the topic clearly.

Ethereum is defined as the blockchain that allows the users to run a program in a safe and secure environment.

Always bear in mind that it’s pretty different from its rival, Bitcoin, which allows the customers only to manage the digital currency.

Furthermore, Ethereum has a digital machine named the Ethereum Virtual Machine or EVM.

It permits the code to be verified and implemented on the blockchain.

The code has smart contracts. These smart contracts can be explained as the code on the Ethereum Virtual Machine.

How many Ethereum are There?

Many cryptocurrencies don’t have an infinite supply.

For instance, the Bitcoin network was developed by the founder Satoshi Nakamoto, and it has a maximum coin supply.

The reason behind it is the deflationary nature of the virtual currency. Over the years, the bitcoin’s price has skyrocketed as a result.

Notably, there are only 21 million Bitcoins, of which 19 million have been mined.

90% of all Bitcoins have been mined.

On the other hand, in the case of Ethereum, the developer Vitalik Buterin prefers to create a network with an infinite amount of coins.

In the blockchain of Ethereum, the first block mined approximately 72 million coins back in 2015, and its name is the genesis block.

These mined coins were utilized in the crowd sale. Moreover, they were also provided to the developmental fund.

The leftover Ethereum coins in circulation were supplied to miners to execute the transactions.

In addition, they were also used as block rewards, and on the blockchain, they were added as a block. But the total ETH that is in circulation now has exceeded 120 million.

It is also worth mentioning here that the mining time of Ethereum is approximately 13-15 seconds, while its counterpart Bitcoin has a mining time of ten minutes, so it depicts that Ethereum has more potential to grow compared to bitcoin.

Is there any Ethereum Left?

Currently, there are infinitely many Ethereum left to mine. If Ethereum remains inflationary or becomes deflationary is still uncertain.

Let’s look at the numbers.

By January 2022, according to the figures, a total of 9M+ ETH had been staked.

Their worth is roughly a staggering $30 billion.

Hence, this staked ether shows a sum of approximately 280,000 active validators. There is a huge possibility that this number will continue to grow, and the Ethereum system will likely become more decentralized.

Additionally, it will also impact the price in the long-run Ethereum because it takes a chunk or portion of Ethereum from the market and causes the locking of it in a contract.

Another factor contributing to the available amount of Ethereum is the improvement proposal that was launched back on 5 August 2021 and was named EIP-1559.

The reason behind it is that this step taken by Ethereum caused the burning or destroying of the coins when the Ethereum blockchain is utilized to complete a transaction.

Furthermore, there is a hope that the Ethereum upgrade will make it convenient for crypto users to evaluate how much a transaction will cost.

All of these will assist in developing certainty regarding the supply of ETH in the future.

Can the supply of Ethereum change after its upgrade to 2.0?

As of now, the Ethereum works on the Power of work or POW.

In this type of system, the miners need to solve a cryptographic puzzle to validate the transaction and new Ethereum coins transactions.

This requires a lot of computing power. It also affects the environment, so it’s not an ideal choice.

After the upgrade, Ethereum will likely switch to the proof-of-stake (POS).

This process will allow users to validate the transactions depending on the number of coins they have contributed.

Hence, in case of more staking, there are more chances that a user is selected to validate transactions on Ethereum’s network and can get a reward.

It is pertinent to mention that currently, Ethereum has both (POS and POW) processes.

But once the upgrade is done, it will be entirely a POS chain.

It will be interesting to see how this upgrade can impact the pricing and circulation of the ETH.

Will Ethereum remain performant?

Many investors want to invest in Ethereum, and the main reason behind its better performance of Ethereum compared to its competitors.

According to some predictions, it will be consistent in its performance in the future and may reach the price target of $10,000.

Although ETH has lost market shares to its competitor networks that have faster transaction times and lower fees than it, it is still the leading platform for main crypto trends such as NFTs and decentralized finance (DeFi).

According to the Messari observation of the cryptocurrency analytics company, the ETH is utilized widely in the 2021’s first quarter. It was more than in the last seven quarters collectively.

Does Ethereum have a Maximum Supply?

This is a common question that may arise in the minds of Ethereum enthusiasts.

There is a wide range of currencies that have a finite supply.

Ethereum, however, has an infinite supply.

In January 2021, there were 113.5 million tokens in circulation. As of April 2022, there are roughly 120 million.

There are some predictions that after shifting the Ethereum process from PoW to PoS, the supply of Ethereum may be reduced.

The upgrades will put an end to the need of the miners, and eventually, the ETH will become a deflationary asset.

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

Future of the Supply of Ethereum

The addition of the EIP-1559 has added a factor of deflation to Ethereum’s coin that was observed in bitcoin and several other digital currencies.

Due to Ethereum’s nature, as it has an infinite amount of ETH, it will give rise to deflationary pressure, according to the industry insiders. They don’t have a fixed or limited supply, so they can grow and expand as their demand spikes.

Therefore, after upcoming upgrades, the network will be able to make the taming of the Ethereum price without impacting the maximum supply of Ethereum.

This way, the network will keep flourishing, and more Ethereum will be released into circulation so that the platform will provide this renowned digital currency.

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