Does Polkadot Have a Max Supply?

If you're wondering what the supply of Polkadot is and whether there is a max cap on the cryptocurrency, look no further.

Sitting at a price of $24.25 as of the time of writing, DOT is among the growing list of cryptocurrencies that includes Ethereum, Dogecoin, Shiba Inu, and Cardano to have soared in price during 2021.

But, is Polkadot more like BTC with a fixed supply cap, or does it have the potential for unlimited coins like SHIB? Here's what you need to know.

Does Polkadot have a max supply cap?

Polkadot does not have a cap on the number of coins that can circulate. As a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) cryptocurrency, DOT is inflationary, meaning that its circulating currency will continue to grow.

This inflation level is set at 10%, which will see the number of DOT increase by 10% each year. Of course, this inflationary cap and supply caps are subject to change via governance. In July 2020, for example, the first Polkadot vote took place, with 86% of voters holding 2.47m DOT voting to increase the total supply of DOT by a factor of 100. This 'redenomination vote' saw the supply of DOT increase from 10 million to 1 billion the following month.

The redenomination increased the supply of holders but did not increase the proportionate share of any individuals. It was done instead to move the decimal point of DOT to give the currency fewer decimal places.

What is the total supply of Polkadot?

As of June 2021, over 952 million DOT is in circulation, with a total supply of 1.083 billion DOT (via CoinMarketCap). The additional 83 million DOT is a product of the 10% inflation since the redenomination occurred in August 2020.

This supply puts DOT at 42nd in the list of cryptocurrencies with the highest supply of circulating coins. In comparison, Shiba Inu has a circulating supply of 394,796,000,000,000 SHIB. It also has the 9th-highest market cap of all cryptocurrencies with its market cap of just over $23,000,000,000.

READ MORE: How do crypto-whales affect cryptocurrency?

[Image by Sajad Nori on Unsplash]