What is Ethereum?
ETHEthereum is a programmable blockchain: anyone can deploy smart contracts, the code behind tokens, lending markets, exchanges and other applications, and validators secure it by staking ether (proof of stake).
The tokenEther pays for every transaction (gas, part of which is burned), is staked by validators to secure the network and is widely used as collateral in applications built on it.
Supply and what is still to come
How many coins exist, how many can, who holds the part not yet circulating and what the schedule releases.
- Circulating supply
- 122.2 million ETH
- Total supply
- 122.2 million ETHin existence, locked or not
- Maximum supply
- None fixedno fixed maximum
- Supply in 10 years
- 132.3 million ETHif net issuance (new ETH less ETH burned) continues at the past year's pace: an extrapolation, not a schedule
A year in the market
Measured on the daily closes of our own US dollar price index.
- Return, past year
- −37.5%daily closes
- Volatility, past year
- 60%annualised, daily log returns
- Deepest fall from a peak, past year
- −56.2%daily closes
- Below its all-time high
- −55.6%high of $4,832 on 22 Aug 2025
- Correlation with bitcoin
- 0.91daily returns, past year; 1 is lockstep
- Beta to bitcoin
- 1.24its usual move for a 1% move in bitcoin
Points to check
What our data shows that a holder should know. Each point is a measurement, not a rating.
- Price swings
Its daily moves were 1.4x as large as bitcoin's over the past year (volatility 60% against 44%).
- Distance from the high
It trades 56% below its all-time high daily close of $4,832 (22 Aug 2025).
- Moves with bitcoin
Its daily returns had a correlation of 0.91 with bitcoin's over the past year, so it has added little diversification to a bitcoin holding.
Questions
What is Ethereum?
Ethereum is a programmable blockchain: anyone can deploy smart contracts, the code behind tokens, lending markets, exchanges and other applications, and validators secure it by staking ether (proof of stake).
What is ETH used for?
Ether pays for every transaction (gas, part of which is burned), is staked by validators to secure the network and is widely used as collateral in applications built on it.
Is Ethereum's supply capped?
No fixed maximum (no fixed maximum); the total supply today is 122.2 million ETH.
Where is Ethereum traded?
On 11 of the 11 exchanges we read: 10 list spot pairs against the dollar or a dollar stablecoin and 11 list perpetual futures. The token finder lists every pair.
Supply from our own nodes or the project’s published figures, prices from our own indexes, listings from the exchanges’ own instrument lists. Last update