GLOSSARY // Crypto
Max Supply
Max supply is the hard ceiling on how many coins can ever exist, written into the protocol's code. Bitcoin's is 21 million; many coins have a cap, and some — like Ethereum — have no fixed maximum at all.
A capped supply is the core of the digital-scarcity argument: if demand grows and no new coins can be created past the cap, price carries the adjustment. But a cap alone guarantees nothing. A coin can cap its supply at a trillion tokens, or unlock them so fast that steady selling swamps any scarcity for years.
Bitcoin's 21 million cap means that at a $1.3 trillion market cap, each coin sits near $65,000. If Bitcoin ever reached gold's rough $18 trillion market value, the same 21 million cap would put a coin near $860,000 — the fixed supply is what turns adoption directly into price.
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Educational only — not financial advice. Definitions simplified for clarity; markets are messier than definitions.