Circulating supply
The number of tokens that exist on-chain and are not held by the issuer / treasury / unminted.
For fiat-backed stablecoins, circulating supply ≈ liabilities owed to holders, and changes track net mint vs. redeem flows. For algorithmic / over-collateralised stablecoins, supply expands with collateral deposits and contracts with redemptions.
Related terms
- Market capFor stablecoins, equivalent to circulating supply × $1 — ie. the amount of issuer liability outstanding.
- MintIssuance of new stablecoin units against deposited reserves or collateral — the inverse of [[redemption]].
- RedemptionExchanging a stablecoin back to its underlying claim (USD, ETH collateral, USDC at a PSM).