Is Ethereum supply unlimited?

[Paranuatu]

I have read conflicting views on this. Is the supply really unlimited? What is the speed at which new tokens are added. How does this predict the price?

[vibag840]

Ethereum has a number of planned protocols upgrades (hardforks): https://steemit.com/cryptocurrency/@ctyptouniverse/ethereum-roadmap. So it depends on the future implementation. Currently the reward per each block is 3 ETH.

[styca]

I think Vitalik said around 100 million, but that was a while ago. I suppose we have to wait until PoS is in place first before we can get close to a definite answer. Total supply isn't the be-all-and-end-all though. I mean, fiat is uncapped so technically has potentially unlimited supply.

[bittick]

I think Vitalik said around 100 million, but that was a while ago. I suppose we have to wait until PoS is in place first before we can get close to a definite answer. Total supply isn't the be-all-and-end-all though. I mean, fiat is uncapped so technically has potentially unlimited supply.

My thought that the fixed supply will have determined after the pos casper already implemented, that means about the next year we will see about the casper network will be alive.
The block reward will be decreasing a lot and just keep your ether.

[Bellator]

I think Vitalik said around 100 million, but that was a while ago. I suppose we have to wait until PoS is in place first before we can get close to a definite answer. Total supply isn't the be-all-and-end-all though. I mean, fiat is uncapped so technically has potentially unlimited supply.

My thought that the fixed supply will have determined after the pos casper already implemented, that means about the next year we will see about the casper network will be alive.
The block reward will be decreasing a lot and just keep your ether.

Well that's good to keep our ether and if we hold it for so long it will eventually become expensive in value. I agree on the statement that the supply is fixed and no such unlimited supply due to it's been established same as with other currencies. If ever its supply becomes larger, I guess its not a good investment, because the value might not increase fast due to more supply and everybody can buy it in a lesser value. The appraisal value might not reach higher and will remain stable just like those shitcoins with billions of supply.

[yannick225]

As I understand it, the current inflation rate is ~12M coins/yr (which has not seemed to restrain growth/price in the least), and is set to drastically drop as the 'ice age' is implemented which will cut the block reward time and begin the transition to POS.

Last I heard, for POS:
Total ETH supply will be about 100M.
Target ETH at stake is 10M.

Note that with such a small inflation rate for POS, when the # of lost coins is taken into account the inflation rate is actually likely to be negative.

[Paranuatu]

i like to beleive that ETH will surpass bitcoin as the main cryptocurency that will actually work as a currency. but due to much bigger supply i dont think its value will be bigger.

[Buyingallcoinsz]

I heard it was capped but never rreally checked. I will check CMC right now.

[digaran]

I heard it was capped but never rreally checked. I will check CMC right now.

Coin market cap couldn't help you even if they'd wanted to, because not even Ξ's dev emperor Buterin knows the answer yet, he needs to jump a few more girls with Putin while Trump watching, violent lol. if he actually switches to POS, Ξ will die undoubtedly, how'd you like to invest on a coin if you can't mine it? would you invest your money when you know only whales are getting everything?

[Beicin]

Ethereum will also start giving less and less rewards over time, up to a point where its gonna be negligible - hence the reason they're testing Proof of Stake now, it is a solution for the long term where mining rewards will no longer sustain the ecosystem.

[marky89]

I have read conflicting views on this. Is the supply really unlimited? What is the speed at which new tokens are added. How does this predict the price?

Currently, based on the consensus rules, the supply is unlimited. The circulating supply is ~95,870,000 ETH. The current block reward is 3 ETH. After Byzantium, block time is ~ 15 seconds, so that amounts to 12 ETH generated every minute.

At some point, Vitalik Buterin said he was aiming for a total supply ~ 100 million ETH before transitioning to proof-of-stake. But that was some time ago, and I think he and many others underestimated the daunting work of building a POS system at Ethereum's scale.

I recall that he also floated the idea of perpetual low (1-2%) inflation, for security, which I don't think is entirely unreasonable. The premises underlying Bitcoin's post-subsidy security are untested too. We'll see what works best in the end...

[benjamin11]

No, I don't think ethereum supply is unlimited. According to the terms agreed by all parties on the 2014 presale, issuance of ether is capped at 18 million ether per year. This means that while the absolute issuance is fixed, the relative inflation is decreased every year. In theory if this issuance was kept indefinitely then at some point the rate of new tokens created every year would reach the average amount lost yearly and there would reach an equilibrium.

[bribed]

Coin market cap couldn't help you even if they'd wanted to, because not even Ξ's dev emperor Buterin knows the answer yet, he needs to jump a few more girls with Putin while Trump watching, violent lol. if he actually switches to POS, Ξ will die undoubtedly, how'd you like to invest on a coin if you can't mine it? would you invest your money when you know only whales are getting everything?

I Am curious how this will enfold itself in the future. It always worried me that Ethereum has unlimited supply. Also I totally agree with you on the whale issue, I didnt see any point in POS, as people with small bags cant achieve anything with their staking. Good joke about the three guys that are relevant for ETHs development!

[KingScorpio]

I think Vitalik said around 100 million, but that was a while ago. I suppose we have to wait until PoS is in place first before we can get close to a definite answer. Total supply isn't the be-all-and-end-all though. I mean, fiat is uncapped so technically has potentially unlimited supply.

wow you are truly a bunch of idiots beliving in vitalik that he will not deflate you wealth, wow

[Paranuatu]

how much ETH is owned by vitalik?

[Acguy]

It is uncapped for now but capping it is in the works.
Getting it done on time is the real question.

[timikulit]

Yes ETH has UNLIMITED supply now.

However, if Vitalik makes ETH capped into 100 Million coins then we will expect a huge price increase for ETH.

I hope that it will happen after the POS is successfully implemented.

[howard.ashoul]

Right now it's unlimited.

It should be limited in the future.

[DrYM]

I doubt they'll make all the required changes in time in order to cap the supply at 100m, but changes are definitely coming and the team is actually working on advancing the protocol towards casper and POS, so I believe it'll eventually be *almost* capped at around 120m, with a very slow growth after that. We'll have to wait and see.

[Kingofthe80ss]

I think Vitalik said around 100 million, but that was a while ago. I suppose we have to wait until PoS is in place first before we can get close to a definite answer. Total supply isn't the be-all-and-end-all though. I mean, fiat is uncapped so technically has potentially unlimited supply.

wow you are truly a bunch of idiots beliving in vitalik that he will not deflate you wealth, wow

Elaborate plz