Recent market dynamics have again brought Ethereum’s supply into the spotlight and reiterated concerns about its inflationary trend. Earlier this year, Ethereum reached a significant milestone in its circulating supply, surpassing 120 million ETH and the number continues to grow.
Unlike other prominent cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Cardano, which have fixed supply caps, Ethereum was designed with an unlimited supply of tokens. This fundamental difference makes Ethereum an inherently inflationary asset, one that has a continuously increasing supply.
On-chain data from Ultrasound.money has shed light on the growing supply of ETH in recent months amidst notable price fluctuations for the cryptocurrency. The most recent data indicates that the total supply of Ethereum has now reached approximately 120.28 million ETH.
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Over the past seven days alone, 16,039 new ETH tokens have been issued. This pace of issuance corresponds to an annual inflation rate of 0.70%. Interestingly, this data shows that 243,886 ETH has been created in the past four months since the Dencan upgrade in March.
What Does This Mean For Ethereum?
Ethereum’s inflationary mechanism is mostly counteracted by burning tokens. This burn mechanism was introduced as part of Ethereum’s London Hard Fork in order to introduce a deflationary mechanism to Ethereum. This mechanism aims to reduce the overall supply of ETH by burning a portion of the transaction fees, thereby introducing a deflationary counterbalance.
However, data from Ultrasound.money shows the burns are currently lagging behind issuance, and Ethereum is now on an inflationary trajectory. Particularly, 2,028 ETH were burned in the past seven days, compared to 18,075 ETH issued in the same timeframe. Such a sustained uptrend in supply growth could cause downward pressure on the price of ETH in the case of a decline in demand.
At the time of writing, Ethereum is trading at $2,615 with no significant gains or losses in a 24-hour timeframe. Looking at a broader seven-day price action shows Ethereum has largely traded within a range of $2,750 on the upper end and $2,530 on the lower end. The latest price action saw Ethereum rebounding at $2,540 in the past 12 hours. If this continues, Ethereum could possibly push up and retest $2,750 in the next few hours.
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According to the latest figures from Greeks.live, approximately 184,000 ETH options are set to expire today. These options represent a substantial nominal value of $470 million and are characterized by a put-call ratio of 0.8 and a maximum pain point of $2,650. This high put-call ratio value means market participants are currently buying more put options than call options, which in turn suggests a bearish sentiment.
Pictured image from Dall-E, chart from Tradingview.com