One of the problems of fiat (traditional) currencies is unlimited supplies: governments can print new bills and coins to their heart’s content, and this could increase inflation to the point of killing the currency itself. Money needs to be scarce to work, and when it’s not anymore, then it doesn’t work anymore. That’s why numerous cryptocurrencies, starting with Bitcoin, have capped or limited supplies.

Other networks, however, have their own monetary policies and even supplies designed to never run out, for various reasons. Let's learn a bit about this.

Supply Cap

A supply cap means there’s a maximum number of coins that can ever exist. Bitcoin remains the most famous example, with a hard limit of 21 million BTC written into its code. No more coins will ever exist, and even from that number, up to 20% may already be gone forever because many holders no longer have access to their private keys. That’s pretty bad for them, but at least it helps to increase Bitcoin scarcity (and price) in the long term.

That's the crux of the matter. If no extra coins can appear beyond the limit, holders know their share of the total supply will stay valuable over time. That scarcity helped Bitcoin gain attention after years of money printing and economic uncertainty around the world. Many users enjoy the transparent rules, too. The schedule is public, predictable, and difficult to change. Networks like Litecoin, BNB, XRP, Zcash, Cardano, Stellar, and Obyte have imitated this limited model to preserve their value and transparency in the long run.

No Supply Cap

On the other hand, coins like Ether, Solana, Monero, Tron, Dogecoin, Tether, and USD Coin don’t have capped supplies. Their minting systems and emission periods are different, but they don’t have a clear limit on units.

Why is that? Isn’t that a mistake? Well, they just prefer flexibility and predictable rewards over fixed scarcity. Keeping miners and "validators" motivated matters because they process transactions and maintain network security —that’s a problem Bitcoin will face one day, when no one can afford to mine. To create scarcity, some of these coins have burning mechanisms (permanently removing coins from circulation), giving them a balance between issuance and removal.

In any case, different projects keep experimenting with these models because their goals differ. Some communities want hard limits and long-term predictability. Others want room for expansion, rewards, and network growth.

Supply Cap in Obyte

While Bitcoin is still minting new coins and it’ll keep doing it for about a century until halvings bring them down to zero, Obyte already issued its whole supply in its genesis unit in 2016. Exactly 1 million GBYTEs came to exist at once, and have been distributed freely through different programs, grants, and rewards —without crowdsales. The goal is to distribute 99% GBYTEs for free, to help improve and expand the ecosystem.

So far, around 94% have been given away, including methods like an initial BTC Airdrop, a cashback program, attestation rewards, liquidity mining, trading prizes, grants, and contractors. Some of these methods are still working, ready to welcome new community members.

As for a future lack of rewards, unlike Bitcoin, Obyte doesn’t have to worry about it. There will be no more new coins, but transactions don’t need “approval” from miners, “validators,” or any other middleman. Instead, users add their own data without gatekeepers, and Order Providers (OPs) selected on-chain by the community, periodically post transactions that act as waypoints to order the whole chain chronologically. They receive some transaction fees, but are mainly selected for their reputation.

This way, Obyte has prepared itself for a decentralized future, without middlemen or inflation.

Featured Vector Image by vectorjuice/Magnific