Does Ethereum have a max supply?

No, Ethereum does not have a max supply. There is no fixed limit on how much ether (ETH) can ever exist, unlike bitcoin. Instead, the protocol creates new ETH as rewards and destroys some ETH through fees, and the balance between the two decides whether supply goes up or down. The difference between these supply terms is explained in circulating vs total vs max supply.

Does Ethereum have a limit like bitcoin?

No. Bitcoin's 21 million cap is written into its issuance schedule, as covered in why there are only 21 million bitcoin. ethereum.org says that, unlike bitcoin, ETH has dynamic supply. New ETH is minted at a rate the protocol calculates, and part of every fee is burned.

For scale, a post on the Ethereum Research forum in April 2026 put total supply at about 121 million ETH. The Block reported in February 2025 that supply was slightly above its level on the day of the Merge in September 2022.

Why does Ethereum not have a max supply?

ETH pays the people who secure the network. Since the Merge, that is validators who stake ETH. ethereum.org says total issuance depends on how much ETH is staked. Each validator earns less as more join, but overall issuance rises with the number of validators.

The Merge cut issuance sharply. ethereum.org estimates that dropping mining rewards removed roughly 88% of new issuance, leaving about 1,700 ETH a day paid to validators at the time it was written. Keeping issuance open-ended means the network can always pay for security, rather than relying only on fees in the future.

Does Ethereum burn coins?

Yes. Since the London upgrade in August 2021, the base fee on every transaction is destroyed under EIP-1559, a form of token burn. ethereum.org says that when the average gas price is around 16 gwei or more on a given day, the burn roughly cancels out validator issuance.

Whether supply shrinks depends on demand. Blockworks reported that after the Dencun upgrade in March 2024 moved layer 2 data into cheaper blobs, base fees fell and ETH had its longest stretch of net supply growth since the Merge. The Block cited analysts who tied the later rise in supply to the same change.

Does Ethereum halve like bitcoin?

No. ethereum.org's description of validator rewards includes no halving or scheduled cut. Rewards follow a formula tied to the total amount staked, not a calendar.

Adding a hard cap would need the community to agree on a protocol change. The April 2026 forum post proposed a cap of 128 million ETH, but it is a discussion post, not an adopted upgrade. As of October 2026, ETH remains uncapped.

Crypto prices are volatile, and nothing about a coin's supply rules guarantees its future value.