Supply Issued as Share of Maximum

Where a maximum supply exists, this expresses current supply as a percentage of it, showing how far through its issuance schedule an asset has traveled. It is one of the few supply metrics that is genuinely comparable across assets, provided both have an enforced ceiling. The remaining percentage is the portion of lifetime supply still to be created under current rules.

How it is computed

(circulating supply / maximum supply) x 100

Where it misleads

The metric is undefined for the large share of proof-of-stake networks that have no maximum supply, and any value shown for them rests on a substituted denominator. The remaining percentage carries no timing information whatsoever: Bitcoin's residual issuance runs out over more than a century under the halving schedule, while a project's remaining allocation may unlock inside eighteen months, and both can show the same percentage. Burns are ignored, so a network that issues and destroys at similar rates can sit at a stable percentage while both flows are large. Because the numerator is circulating supply, a provider reclassifying locked tokens changes this percentage with no issuance event behind it.

The equity comparison, and why it fails

Issued shares as a percentage of authorized share capital. The analogy fails because authorized capital is a legal ceiling amendable only by shareholder vote and disclosed in filings, whereas the token ceiling is a property of code with no vote, no filing, and no external enforcement.

Reading a high or a low value

A high percentage means most of the lifetime supply already exists; a low percentage means a large share is still to be issued. The figure describes position within a schedule and not the speed at which the remainder arrives.