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What is max supply?
Max supply is the largest number of units of a token that can ever exist, if its rules set a limit. Bitcoin's rules stop issuance at 21 million coins; many other tokens have no maximum, or one that a person or group can change.
What it means for you
A cap limits supply only if no one can change it: check whether the token's maximum is fixed in its rules, and whether any person or group can mint more or rewrite the supply rules. A token with no maximum can keep adding new units over time.
A common mistake: “A fixed maximum supply makes a coin's price go up over time.”
In fact: A cap limits how many units exist, not what anyone will pay for them. Price depends on demand as well as supply, and a cap limits supply only while no one can change the rule.
How it works
Bitcoin's cap is enforced by its issuance rule: the number of new bitcoins created is automatically halved over time until issuance stops with 21 million in existence, after which miners would be paid by transaction fees. Each bitcoin divides into 100,000,000 satoshis. For other tokens, the SEC lists what a disclosure is expected to cover: whether total supply is fixed at a maximum, how new units are minted, any process for burning, and whether any person or group can change the supply rules. A maximum that someone can change is a policy, not a protocol limit.
Sources: bitcoin.org: Frequently Asked Questions, SEC: Statement on Offerings and Registrations of Securities in the Crypto Asset Markets · checked 4 October 2026
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Educational content, not financial advice. Written by hand and checked against the source named above. Something wrong? Tell us and we reply within two business days.