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Ethereum`s Total Supply Crosses the 100 Million Mark

 

The total supply of Ethereum has crossed the 100 million mark, contrary to the projections of some industry players, including Ethereum`s own co-founder, Vitalik Buterin, who is on record to have said that Ethereum will not chalk that mileston in the foreseable future - perhaps only in the next century.

 

The circulation of the world`s most popular cryptocurrency Bitcoin comes no where near that of Ethereum. This is perhaps so because 21 million limit has been placed on the total qauntity of Bitcoin that should be in circulation.

 

Part of what seem to have done the trick was when an Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) was put forward by Buterin in April 2018 that was to see the capping of total Etherem supply at 120 million. His proposal appears to communicate a change in his initial stands. In the proposal, Buterin noted:

 

 “In order to ensure the economic sustainability of the platform under the widest possible variety of circumstances, and in light of the fact that issuing new coins to proof of work miners is no longer an effective way of promoting an egalitarian coin distribution or any other significant policy goal, I propose that we agree on a hard cap for the total quantity of ETH, I recommend setting [a maximum supply of 120 million], or exactly [twice] the amount of ETH sold in the original Ether sale.”

 

Some interesting statistics have been churned out about the steady progress Ethereum has made over the last coupls of years. In 2015, The first block of Ethereum`s blockchain (the genesis block) was launched with as much as 72 million Ethereum already available.

 

Ethereum is reported to have experienced a steady and consistent growth rate, hovering around 10% every year. What this means is that, since the genesis block was launched three years ago, an additional 28 million Ethereum has been mined.

 

Ethereum`s stupendous growth rates have been a source of concern for many within the Ethereum Community; this is centered around demand and supply as is the case with fiat currencies.

 

Generally, the price of a currency or community shoots up when demand exceeds supply.

 

Conversely where demand is way below supply, prices drop and at best, prices are maintained a relatively brief period. Supply is sure to exceed demand, and by prices will either be maintained or experince a significant drop, in are community of society where more currencies are being printed more often than not.

 

Over the last couple of years many potentially viable solutions have been suggested but none has been implemented as yet. What may help address this challenge in a more effective manner is the anticipated implementation of what is termed the Casper protocol, also known as the proof of stake consensus protocol of Ethereum.

 

Expectations are rife about the implementation of the Casper protocol and it is hoped that it will ensure the reduction of the current inflation rate of 10% to between 0.5% to 2% per year. It is however still unclear as to when the implementation wil commence.

 

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Images from Digital Trends

Ethereum link: https://www.ethereum.org