Circulating supply is the number of coins or tokens publicly available in the market now, excluding locked, reserved or not-yet-created coins. It matters when you buy because market cap is price times circulating supply, and locked coins that unlock later can dilute holders. As of September 2026, about 20.09 million of Bitcoin's 21 million coins had been mined.
How does circulating supply work?
It counts the coins people can hold, send and trade today. Coins that are locked by a project team, reserved for investors or not yet created are left out.
Mining and token releases add coins; burning (sending coins to an unspendable address) removes them. Lost coins still count, because no one can prove which coins are gone for good.
What is an example of circulating supply?
As of 28 September 2026, about 20.09 million BTC had been mined, per the Blockchain.com explorer. That is more than 95% of Bitcoin’s 21 million maximum. The 20 millionth bitcoin was mined in March 2026, around block 940,000.
New bitcoin arrives through the block reward. About every 10 minutes on average, a new block creates 3.125 BTC, the amount set by the April 2024 halving. It halves every 210,000 blocks (roughly four years), and the last bitcoin is estimated for around 2140. See the history of the Bitcoin halving.
Why does circulating supply matter when you buy crypto?
Market cap is price multiplied by circulating supply: what the coins in circulation are worth today. It also drives Bitcoin dominance, Bitcoin’s share of the crypto market.
The gap to maximum supply matters too, especially for newer altcoins. Illustrative example: a token has 1 billion units, but only 100 million (10%) circulate. At $0.50, its market cap is $50 million, while its fully diluted valuation (price times maximum supply) is $500 million. As the other 900 million unlock, each token becomes a smaller share of the whole (dilution), which can weigh on the price if demand does not keep up.
CoinMarketCap and CoinGecko use their own rules for locked tokens, so their figures can differ. See the Bitcoin price and payment options.
What is the difference between circulating, total and max supply?
| Measure | What it counts | Bitcoin, September 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Circulating supply | Coins available to trade now | About 20.09 million BTC |
| Total supply | Created so far, including locked, minus burned | About 20.09 million BTC |
| Max supply | The most coins that can ever exist | Just under 21 million BTC |
What are the risks and red flags?
- Large unlocks ahead: check the project’s unlock schedule before you buy.
- Self-reported numbers: projects often report their own supply figures. Check them on a block explorer.
- Thin supply: a small circulating supply makes prices easier to push around, as in pump-and-dump schemes.
- Scarcity is no promise: a fixed maximum supply does not set the price. Past performance does not predict future results.
Go deeper: read what market cap means in crypto.
