The number of coins or tokens that are currently in existence, either in circulation or locked in some other manner, is referred to as the total supply. It is equal to the total amount of already-mined (or-issued) coins minus the amount of coins that were burned or otherwise disposed of. Therefore, the total supply comprises both the coins that are currently in circulation and those that have not yet been sold on the open market. As an illustration, consider coins that are being held during a lockup or vesting period, which commonly happens after a private sale or Initial Coin Offering (ICO) event. The supply does not include any coins or tokens that are eventually burned. Total Supply vs. Circulating Supply The circulating supply, in contrast to the total supply, refers to all of the coins that are currently in circulation and accessible for trading on several cryptocurrency exchange platforms. The term "circulating supply" only refers to coins that are currently in use by the general public; it excludes coins or tokens that are locked away or held in reserve. The market capitalization calculation often only takes into account the circulating supply rather than the entire quantity because the market prices of a cryptocurrency coin cannot be directly impacted by the portion of the supply that is locked or reserved. Total Supply vs. Maximum Supply While the maximum supply refers to all coins that will ever exist, the total supply comprises all coins that have ever been mined (or issued), minus those that have been burned. In contrast to the total supply, which only includes coins that have already been mined, the maximum supply also includes coins that have already been burned. Many currencies are valued because of their inherent scarcity, according to the theory of cryptoeconomics. For instance, each time a new block is verified by a miner (and approved by the rest of the network), new coins are created. As most mineable cryptocurrencies include a limitation (max supply) that restricts the number of coins that can be generated, the process of creating new coins is not unlimited. Typically, the maximum supply is established at the time the genesis block is generated.