Internet Computer Wiki - User contributions [en]

Total supply, circulating supply, and staked ICP

2025-03-17T14:04:54Z

Klangham:

For a crypto community to understand the [[Governance of the Internet Computer | governance]] and [[ICP Tokenomics | tokenomics]] of ICP, understanding the supply of ICP is important.

==Definitions==

===Total supply===

Total supply is the sum of all tokens currently in the system (whether they are locked/staked or not).

The total supply changes over time due to inflation and deflation. Its current value can be seen on the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation IC Circulation page] of the IC dashboard.

===Circulating supply===

The circulating supply is all tokens except liquid (non-staked) tokens owned by the DFINITY Foundation. The circulating supply definition was updated to its current definition on 18APR23 through an approved vote by the NNS on [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/proposal/117360 proposal 117360.]

The current circulating supply can be seen on the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation IC Circulation page] of the IC dashboard.

===Staked ICP===

Staked ICP supply is the sum of all the tokens that are locked or dissolving in neurons at any given time that are earning rewards. At this time, there is a minimum lockup period of 6 months to accrue voting rewards.

The total amount of staked ICP changes over time. Its current value can be seen on the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/neurons Neurons page] of the IC dashboard.

==Numbers==

===At network Genesis===

May 10, 2021:
* Total supply: 469 million
* Circulating supply: 123 million

===Current status===
As of March 17th, 2025:
* Total supply: 530.6 million ICP
* Circulating supply: 481.7 million (90.8% of total supply)
* Staked ICP: 234.1 million (44.1% of total supply).
** 87.2% of ICP staked is staked with more than a 1-year dissolve delay
** 61.5% of ICP staked is staked for an 8-year dissolve
** One can see the breakdown of staked ICP by dissolve delays in [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/neurons IC neuron dashboard].

* As outlined in the section above Circulating supply represents ICP that was ever liquid. A subset of the circulating supply is locked in neurons as staked ICP.

==Inflationary mechanisms==

The NNS mints ICP tokens for two reasons:
* For voting rewards (Governance).
* For node provider rewards.

The amount of ICP minted since Genesis can be seen in the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation "Total Rewards" chart] on the IC dashboard.

===Paying staking rewards===

Voting rewards are generated by minting ICP, although this minting only happens at the moment rewards are spawned, maturity is merged, or the neuron is disbursed.

The voting rewards rate schedule is designed with the goal that 90% of the token supply is staked in neurons. With this goal in mind, in the first year, the NNS allocates 10% of the total supply to generate voting rewards. Note the term "allocates" rather than "mints", because rewards are not minted (increasing the total supply) until they are spawned, merged, or the neuron is disbursed.

As the network becomes more stable over time, this allocation rate drops quadratically until it reaches 5% by year 8. See chart below from the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation IC Circulation page] on the IC dashboard.:

[[File:NNS minting % by year.png|800px|frameless]]

'''Like all parameters in the NNS, this rate schedule can be changed via NNS proposals.'''

See more in [[Staking, voting and rewards]].

===Node provider rewards===

Node providers are rewarded for running the node machines that power the Internet Computer.

==Deflationary mechanisms==

The NNS burns ICP tokens for three reasons:

* To mint cycles, used to pay for compute and storage.
* For transaction fees.
* For failed NNS proposal fees.

The amount of ICP burned since Genesis can be seen in the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation "Total ICP Burned" chart] on the IC dashboard.

===Paying for compute and storage===

Dapp and smart contract developers pay computation and storage costs with cycles. Cycles are acquired from the NNS by converting ICP to cycles, which burns the converted ICP.

The cycles costs for IC computation and storage can be seen at [https://smartcontracts.org/docs/developers-guide/computation-and-storage-costs.html Computation and Storage Costs].

===Transaction fees===

Transferring ICP across accounts incurs a transaction fee of 0.0001 ICP, which is burned.

===Failed NNS proposals===

It costs 25 ICP to submit a proposal. If the proposal passes, the 25 ICP is returned to the proposer. If the proposal is rejected, the 25 ICP is burned. Note that this only happens at disbursement or merging of neurons, so accumulated failed proposal fees can persist for a while before finally contributing to deflation.

==Historical factors affecting circulating supply==

The Internet Computer blockchain is a result of several years of unyielding R&D. By Genesis, the DFINITY foundation, a major contributor to the Internet Computer was over 200 full-time members. Over the past several years the foundation raised financing in three main rounds and also allocated ICP tokens to the community in the form of an airdrop event.

For a breakdown of the different rounds and vesting schedules, see Messari's report [https://messari.io/article/an-introduction-to-dfinity-and-the-internet-computer?referrer=asset:internet-computer "Introduction to ICP"]. The unlocking of neurons has been the '''largest contributing factor''' to circulating supply since Genesis, so it's important to understand the context.

1. '''Seed Round, Feb-2017 (Public ICO):''' This round was advertised by a tweet and open to the public by downloading a web extension. DFINITY raised CHF3.9 million (US$3.9 million) from 370 participants, at a valuation of $16 million, or a price of $0.03 per token. It held a portion of these funds in ETH and BTC during the 2017 crypto bull run. Seed round participants received all of their tokens at genesis but are staked inside 49 neurons. Each neuron has a different dissolve delay counting from 0 to 48 months. So this is practically equivalent to a 48-month "vesting schedule" see [https://medium.com/dfinity/how-to-access-seed-and-airdrop-icp-tokens-and-participate-in-the-internet-computer-network-e6cd663a0c3c How to Access ‘Seed’ and ‘Airdrop’ ICP Tokens and Participate in the Internet Computer Network].

2. '''Strategic Round, Jan-2018:''' DFINITY raised $20.54 million for 7.00% of the initial supply (the number has been revised from the previously cited 6.84%). This allocation vests monthly over three years starting from mainnet launch (May 2021). Participants include Polychain Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, CoinFund, Multicoin Capital, and Greycroft Partners. This round marks the first token a16z invested in. Polychain and DFINITY later collaborated to create the "DFINITY Ecosystem Venture Fund" (later renamed [https://dfinity.org/ecosystem/fund/ "Beacon Fund"]) of an undisclosed size. The goal is to fund new projects that would grow the IC's application ecosystem. The media reported that DFINITY raised a much larger amount of $61 million, some of which related to funds committed to projects building on the Internet Computer.

3. '''Presale, Aug-2018:''' 110 participants contributed $97 million for 4.96% of the initial supply, sold at 4 CHF (around $4 at the time) per ICP token. This number has been revised from 4.75% previously reported. This allocation came with a monthly vesting schedule of one year from mainnet launch. Vesting began one month after the initial token distribution event on May 10, 2021. Participants in this round include Andreessen Horowitz, Polychain Capital, SV Angel, Aspect Ventures, Electric Capital, ZeroEx, Scalar Capital, and Multicoin Capital.

4. '''Airdrop, May-2018:''' $35 million worth of ICP tokens (formerly DFN), or 0.80% of the initial supply, was airdropped to early supporters by being part of their mailing list, forums, and community. At this time, valuations reached $1.89 billion. Airdrop participants received the IOU version of their ICP tokens in September 2020. This allocation came with a monthly distribution schedule of one year from mainnet launch, which began on May 10, 2021.

==Conclusion==

'''Ultimately, the NNS is controlled by the community so it can vote to change any of the parameters. The parameters and mechanisms described are the current ones.'''

The ICP token has a Total Supply of 530.6MM, Circulating Supply of 481.7MM as of March 2025. 234.1MM ICP (44.1% of total supply) is staked by token holders in the form of neurons with over 87.2% locked for over 1 year.

The number of tokens is constantly changing. The rewards paid out to the node providers and governance participants contribute to the inflation in token supply while factors like compute/storage fees and transaction fees cause deflation in the total supply.

Total supply, circulating supply, and staked ICP

2025-02-20T21:05:12Z

Klangham: updated stats

For a crypto community to understand the [[Governance of the Internet Computer | governance]] and [[ICP Tokenomics | tokenomics]] of ICP, understanding the supply of ICP is important.

==Definitions==

===Total supply===

Total supply is the sum of all tokens currently in the system (whether they are locked/staked or not).

The total supply changes over time due to inflation and deflation. Its current value can be seen on the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation IC Circulation page] of the IC dashboard.

===Circulating supply===

The circulating supply is all tokens except liquid (non-staked) tokens owned by the DFINITY Foundation. The circulating supply definition was updated to its current definition on 18APR23 through an approved vote by the NNS on [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/proposal/117360 proposal 117360.]

The current circulating supply can be seen on the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation IC Circulation page] of the IC dashboard.

===Staked ICP===

Staked ICP supply is the sum of all the tokens that are locked or dissolving in neurons at any given time that are earning rewards. At this time, there is a minimum lockup period of 6 months to accrue voting rewards.

The total amount of staked ICP changes over time. Its current value can be seen on the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/neurons Neurons page] of the IC dashboard.

==Numbers==

===At network Genesis===

May 10, 2021:
* Total supply: 469 million
* Circulating supply: 123 million

===Current status===
As of February 20th, 2024:
* Total supply: 530.1 million ICP
* Circulating supply: 481.2 million (90.8% of total supply)
* Staked ICP: 234.5 million (44.2% of total supply).
** 86.8% of ICP staked is staked with more than a 1-year dissolve delay
** 61.0% of ICP staked is staked for an 8-year dissolve
** One can see the breakdown of staked ICP by dissolve delays in [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/neurons IC neuron dashboard].

* As outlined in the section above Circulating supply represents ICP that was ever liquid. A subset of the circulating supply is locked in neurons as staked ICP.

==Inflationary mechanisms==

The NNS mints ICP tokens for two reasons:
* For voting rewards (Governance).
* For node provider rewards.

The amount of ICP minted since Genesis can be seen in the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation "Total Rewards" chart] on the IC dashboard.

===Paying staking rewards===

Voting rewards are generated by minting ICP, although this minting only happens at the moment rewards are spawned, maturity is merged, or the neuron is disbursed.

The voting rewards rate schedule is designed with the goal that 90% of the token supply is staked in neurons. With this goal in mind, in the first year, the NNS allocates 10% of the total supply to generate voting rewards. Note the term "allocates" rather than "mints", because rewards are not minted (increasing the total supply) until they are spawned, merged, or the neuron is disbursed.

As the network becomes more stable over time, this allocation rate drops quadratically until it reaches 5% by year 8. See chart below from the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation IC Circulation page] on the IC dashboard.:

[[File:NNS minting % by year.png|800px|frameless]]

'''Like all parameters in the NNS, this rate schedule can be changed via NNS proposals.'''

See more in [[Staking, voting and rewards]].

===Node provider rewards===

Node providers are rewarded for running the node machines that power the Internet Computer.

==Deflationary mechanisms==

The NNS burns ICP tokens for three reasons:

* To mint cycles, used to pay for compute and storage.
* For transaction fees.
* For failed NNS proposal fees.

The amount of ICP burned since Genesis can be seen in the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation "Total ICP Burned" chart] on the IC dashboard.

===Paying for compute and storage===

Dapp and smart contract developers pay computation and storage costs with cycles. Cycles are acquired from the NNS by converting ICP to cycles, which burns the converted ICP.

The cycles costs for IC computation and storage can be seen at [https://smartcontracts.org/docs/developers-guide/computation-and-storage-costs.html Computation and Storage Costs].

===Transaction fees===

Transferring ICP across accounts incurs a transaction fee of 0.0001 ICP, which is burned.

===Failed NNS proposals===

It costs 10 ICP to submit a proposal. If the proposal passes, the 10 ICP is returned to the proposer. If the proposal is rejected, the 10 ICP is burned. Note that this only happens at disbursement or merging of neurons, so accumulated failed proposal fees can persist for a while before finally contributing to deflation.

==Historical factors affecting circulating supply==

The Internet Computer blockchain is a result of several years of unyielding R&D. By Genesis, the DFINITY foundation, a major contributor to the Internet Computer was over 200 full-time members. Over the past several years the foundation raised financing in three main rounds and also allocated ICP tokens to the community in the form of an airdrop event.

For a breakdown of the different rounds and vesting schedules, see Messari's report [https://messari.io/article/an-introduction-to-dfinity-and-the-internet-computer?referrer=asset:internet-computer "Introduction to ICP"]. The unlocking of neurons has been the '''largest contributing factor''' to circulating supply since Genesis, so it's important to understand the context.

1. '''Seed Round, Feb-2017 (Public ICO):''' This round was advertised by a tweet and open to the public by downloading a web extension. DFINITY raised CHF3.9 million (US$3.9 million) from 370 participants, at a valuation of $16 million, or a price of $0.03 per token. It held a portion of these funds in ETH and BTC during the 2017 crypto bull run. Seed round participants received all of their tokens at genesis but are staked inside 49 neurons. Each neuron has a different dissolve delay counting from 0 to 48 months. So this is practically equivalent to a 48-month "vesting schedule" see [https://medium.com/dfinity/how-to-access-seed-and-airdrop-icp-tokens-and-participate-in-the-internet-computer-network-e6cd663a0c3c How to Access ‘Seed’ and ‘Airdrop’ ICP Tokens and Participate in the Internet Computer Network].

2. '''Strategic Round, Jan-2018:''' DFINITY raised $20.54 million for 7.00% of the initial supply (the number has been revised from the previously cited 6.84%). This allocation vests monthly over three years starting from mainnet launch (May 2021). Participants include Polychain Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, CoinFund, Multicoin Capital, and Greycroft Partners. This round marks the first token a16z invested in. Polychain and DFINITY later collaborated to create the "DFINITY Ecosystem Venture Fund" (later renamed [https://dfinity.org/ecosystem/fund/ "Beacon Fund"]) of an undisclosed size. The goal is to fund new projects that would grow the IC's application ecosystem. The media reported that DFINITY raised a much larger amount of $61 million, some of which related to funds committed to projects building on the Internet Computer.

3. '''Presale, Aug-2018:''' 110 participants contributed $97 million for 4.96% of the initial supply, sold at 4 CHF (around $4 at the time) per ICP token. This number has been revised from 4.75% previously reported. This allocation came with a monthly vesting schedule of one year from mainnet launch. Vesting began one month after the initial token distribution event on May 10, 2021. Participants in this round include Andreessen Horowitz, Polychain Capital, SV Angel, Aspect Ventures, Electric Capital, ZeroEx, Scalar Capital, and Multicoin Capital.

4. '''Airdrop, May-2018:''' $35 million worth of ICP tokens (formerly DFN), or 0.80% of the initial supply, was airdropped to early supporters by being part of their mailing list, forums, and community. At this time, valuations reached $1.89 billion. Airdrop participants received the IOU version of their ICP tokens in September 2020. This allocation came with a monthly distribution schedule of one year from mainnet launch, which began on May 10, 2021.

==Conclusion==

'''Ultimately, the NNS is controlled by the community so it can vote to change any of the parameters. The parameters and mechanisms described are the current ones.'''

The ICP token has a Total Supply of 530.1MM, Circulating Supply of 481.2MM as of February 2024. 234.5MM ICP (44.2% of total supply) is staked by token holders in the form of neurons with over 86.8% locked for over 1 year.

The number of tokens is constantly changing. The rewards paid out to the node providers and governance participants contribute to the inflation in token supply while factors like compute/storage fees and transaction fees cause deflation in the total supply.

Total supply, circulating supply, and staked ICP

2025-01-15T15:06:14Z

Klangham:

For a crypto community to understand the [[Governance of the Internet Computer | governance]] and [[ICP Tokenomics | tokenomics]] of ICP, understanding the supply of ICP is important.

==Definitions==

===Total supply===

Total supply is the sum of all tokens currently in the system (whether they are locked/staked or not).

The total supply changes over time due to inflation and deflation. Its current value can be seen on the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation IC Circulation page] of the IC dashboard.

===Circulating supply===

The circulating supply is all tokens except liquid (non-staked) tokens owned by the DFINITY Foundation. The circulating supply definition was updated to its current definition on 18APR23 through an approved vote by the NNS on [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/proposal/117360 proposal 117360.]

The current circulating supply can be seen on the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation IC Circulation page] of the IC dashboard.

===Staked ICP===

Staked ICP supply is the sum of all the tokens that are locked or dissolving in neurons at any given time that are earning rewards. At this time, there is a minimum lockup period of 6 months to accrue voting rewards.

The total amount of staked ICP changes over time. Its current value can be seen on the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/neurons Neurons page] of the IC dashboard.

==Numbers==

===At network Genesis===

May 10, 2021:
* Total supply: 469 million
* Circulating supply: 123 million

===Current status===
As of January 15th, 2024:
* Total supply: 528.8 million ICP
* Circulating supply: 479.37 million (90.7% of total supply)
* Staked ICP: 234.7 million (44.4% of total supply).
** 87.2% of ICP staked is staked with more than a 1-year dissolve delay
** 60.7% of ICP staked is staked for an 8-year dissolve
** One can see the breakdown of staked ICP by dissolve delays in [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/neurons IC neuron dashboard].

* As outlined in the section above Circulating supply represents ICP that was ever liquid. A subset of the circulating supply is locked in neurons as staked ICP.

==Inflationary mechanisms==

The NNS mints ICP tokens for two reasons:
* For voting rewards (Governance).
* For node provider rewards.

The amount of ICP minted since Genesis can be seen in the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation "Total Rewards" chart] on the IC dashboard.

===Paying staking rewards===

Voting rewards are generated by minting ICP, although this minting only happens at the moment rewards are spawned, maturity is merged, or the neuron is disbursed.

The voting rewards rate schedule is designed with the goal that 90% of the token supply is staked in neurons. With this goal in mind, in the first year, the NNS allocates 10% of the total supply to generate voting rewards. Note the term "allocates" rather than "mints", because rewards are not minted (increasing the total supply) until they are spawned, merged, or the neuron is disbursed.

As the network becomes more stable over time, this allocation rate drops quadratically until it reaches 5% by year 8. See chart below from the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation IC Circulation page] on the IC dashboard.:

[[File:NNS minting % by year.png|800px|frameless]]

'''Like all parameters in the NNS, this rate schedule can be changed via NNS proposals.'''

See more in [[Staking, voting and rewards]].

===Node provider rewards===

Node providers are rewarded for running the node machines that power the Internet Computer.

==Deflationary mechanisms==

The NNS burns ICP tokens for three reasons:

* To mint cycles, used to pay for compute and storage.
* For transaction fees.
* For failed NNS proposal fees.

The amount of ICP burned since Genesis can be seen in the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation "Total ICP Burned" chart] on the IC dashboard.

===Paying for compute and storage===

Dapp and smart contract developers pay computation and storage costs with cycles. Cycles are acquired from the NNS by converting ICP to cycles, which burns the converted ICP.

The cycles costs for IC computation and storage can be seen at [https://smartcontracts.org/docs/developers-guide/computation-and-storage-costs.html Computation and Storage Costs].

===Transaction fees===

Transferring ICP across accounts incurs a transaction fee of 0.0001 ICP, which is burned.

===Failed NNS proposals===

It costs 10 ICP to submit a proposal. If the proposal passes, the 10 ICP is returned to the proposer. If the proposal is rejected, the 10 ICP is burned. Note that this only happens at disbursement or merging of neurons, so accumulated failed proposal fees can persist for a while before finally contributing to deflation.

==Historical factors affecting circulating supply==

The Internet Computer blockchain is a result of several years of unyielding R&D. By Genesis, the DFINITY foundation, a major contributor to the Internet Computer was over 200 full-time members. Over the past several years the foundation raised financing in three main rounds and also allocated ICP tokens to the community in the form of an airdrop event.

For a breakdown of the different rounds and vesting schedules, see Messari's report [https://messari.io/article/an-introduction-to-dfinity-and-the-internet-computer?referrer=asset:internet-computer "Introduction to ICP"]. The unlocking of neurons has been the '''largest contributing factor''' to circulating supply since Genesis, so it's important to understand the context.

1. '''Seed Round, Feb-2017 (Public ICO):''' This round was advertised by a tweet and open to the public by downloading a web extension. DFINITY raised CHF3.9 million (US$3.9 million) from 370 participants, at a valuation of $16 million, or a price of $0.03 per token. It held a portion of these funds in ETH and BTC during the 2017 crypto bull run. Seed round participants received all of their tokens at genesis but are staked inside 49 neurons. Each neuron has a different dissolve delay counting from 0 to 48 months. So this is practically equivalent to a 48-month "vesting schedule" see [https://medium.com/dfinity/how-to-access-seed-and-airdrop-icp-tokens-and-participate-in-the-internet-computer-network-e6cd663a0c3c How to Access ‘Seed’ and ‘Airdrop’ ICP Tokens and Participate in the Internet Computer Network].

2. '''Strategic Round, Jan-2018:''' DFINITY raised $20.54 million for 7.00% of the initial supply (the number has been revised from the previously cited 6.84%). This allocation vests monthly over three years starting from mainnet launch (May 2021). Participants include Polychain Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, CoinFund, Multicoin Capital, and Greycroft Partners. This round marks the first token a16z invested in. Polychain and DFINITY later collaborated to create the "DFINITY Ecosystem Venture Fund" (later renamed [https://dfinity.org/ecosystem/fund/ "Beacon Fund"]) of an undisclosed size. The goal is to fund new projects that would grow the IC's application ecosystem. The media reported that DFINITY raised a much larger amount of $61 million, some of which related to funds committed to projects building on the Internet Computer.

3. '''Presale, Aug-2018:''' 110 participants contributed $97 million for 4.96% of the initial supply, sold at 4 CHF (around $4 at the time) per ICP token. This number has been revised from 4.75% previously reported. This allocation came with a monthly vesting schedule of one year from mainnet launch. Vesting began one month after the initial token distribution event on May 10, 2021. Participants in this round include Andreessen Horowitz, Polychain Capital, SV Angel, Aspect Ventures, Electric Capital, ZeroEx, Scalar Capital, and Multicoin Capital.

4. '''Airdrop, May-2018:''' $35 million worth of ICP tokens (formerly DFN), or 0.80% of the initial supply, was airdropped to early supporters by being part of their mailing list, forums, and community. At this time, valuations reached $1.89 billion. Airdrop participants received the IOU version of their ICP tokens in September 2020. This allocation came with a monthly distribution schedule of one year from mainnet launch, which began on May 10, 2021.

==Conclusion==

'''Ultimately, the NNS is controlled by the community so it can vote to change any of the parameters. The parameters and mechanisms described are the current ones.'''

The ICP token has a Total Supply of 528.8MM, Circulating Supply of 479.4MM as of January 2024. 234.7MM ICP (44.4% of total supply) is staked by token holders in the form of neurons with over 87.2% locked for over 1 year.

The number of tokens is constantly changing. The rewards paid out to the node providers and governance participants contribute to the inflation in token supply while factors like compute/storage fees and transaction fees cause deflation in the total supply.

Total supply, circulating supply, and staked ICP

2024-11-13T21:04:34Z

Klangham: updated stats

For a crypto community to understand the [[Governance of the Internet Computer | governance]] and [[ICP Tokenomics | tokenomics]] of ICP, understanding the supply of ICP is important.

==Definitions==

===Total supply===

Total supply is the sum of all tokens currently in the system (whether they are locked/staked or not).

The total supply changes over time due to inflation and deflation. Its current value can be seen on the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation IC Circulation page] of the IC dashboard.

===Circulating supply===

The circulating supply is all tokens except liquid (non-staked) tokens owned by the DFINITY Foundation. The circulating supply definition was updated to its current definition on 18APR23 through an approved vote by the NNS on [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/proposal/117360 proposal 117360.]

The current circulating supply can be seen on the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation IC Circulation page] of the IC dashboard.

===Staked ICP===

Staked ICP supply is the sum of all the tokens that are locked or dissolving in neurons at any given time that are earning rewards. At this time, there is a minimum lockup period of 6 months to accrue voting rewards.

The total amount of staked ICP changes over time. Its current value can be seen on the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/neurons Neurons page] of the IC dashboard.

==Numbers==

===At network Genesis===

May 10, 2021:
* Total supply: 469 million
* Circulating supply: 123 million

===Current status===
As of November 13th, 2024:
* Total supply: 525.4 million ICP
* Circulating supply: 474.3 million (90.3% of total supply)
* Staked ICP: 237.5 million (45.2% of total supply).
** 85.7% of ICP staked is staked with more than a 1-year dissolve delay
** 59.2% of ICP staked is staked for an 8-year dissolve
** One can see the breakdown of staked ICP by dissolve delays in [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/neurons IC neuron dashboard].

* As outlined in the section above Circulating supply represents ICP that was ever liquid. A subset of the circulating supply is locked in neurons as staked ICP.

==Inflationary mechanisms==

The NNS mints ICP tokens for two reasons:
* For voting rewards (Governance).
* For node provider rewards.

The amount of ICP minted since Genesis can be seen in the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation "Total Rewards" chart] on the IC dashboard.

===Paying staking rewards===

Voting rewards are generated by minting ICP, although this minting only happens at the moment rewards are spawned, maturity is merged, or the neuron is disbursed.

The voting rewards rate schedule is designed with the goal that 90% of the token supply is staked in neurons. With this goal in mind, in the first year, the NNS allocates 10% of the total supply to generate voting rewards. Note the term "allocates" rather than "mints", because rewards are not minted (increasing the total supply) until they are spawned, merged, or the neuron is disbursed.

As the network becomes more stable over time, this allocation rate drops quadratically until it reaches 5% by year 8. See chart below from the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation IC Circulation page] on the IC dashboard.:

[[File:NNS minting % by year.png|800px|frameless]]

'''Like all parameters in the NNS, this rate schedule can be changed via NNS proposals.'''

See more in [[Staking, voting and rewards]].

===Node provider rewards===

Node providers are rewarded for running the node machines that power the Internet Computer.

==Deflationary mechanisms==

The NNS burns ICP tokens for three reasons:

* To mint cycles, used to pay for compute and storage.
* For transaction fees.
* For failed NNS proposal fees.

The amount of ICP burned since Genesis can be seen in the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation "Total ICP Burned" chart] on the IC dashboard.

===Paying for compute and storage===

Dapp and smart contract developers pay computation and storage costs with cycles. Cycles are acquired from the NNS by converting ICP to cycles, which burns the converted ICP.

The cycles costs for IC computation and storage can be seen at [https://smartcontracts.org/docs/developers-guide/computation-and-storage-costs.html Computation and Storage Costs].

===Transaction fees===

Transferring ICP across accounts incurs a transaction fee of 0.0001 ICP, which is burned.

===Failed NNS proposals===

It costs 10 ICP to submit a proposal. If the proposal passes, the 10 ICP is returned to the proposer. If the proposal is rejected, the 10 ICP is burned. Note that this only happens at disbursement or merging of neurons, so accumulated failed proposal fees can persist for a while before finally contributing to deflation.

==Historical factors affecting circulating supply==

The Internet Computer blockchain is a result of several years of unyielding R&D. By Genesis, the DFINITY foundation, a major contributor to the Internet Computer was over 200 full-time members. Over the past several years the foundation raised financing in three main rounds and also allocated ICP tokens to the community in the form of an airdrop event.

For a breakdown of the different rounds and vesting schedules, see Messari's report [https://messari.io/article/an-introduction-to-dfinity-and-the-internet-computer?referrer=asset:internet-computer "Introduction to ICP"]. The unlocking of neurons has been the '''largest contributing factor''' to circulating supply since Genesis, so it's important to understand the context.

1. '''Seed Round, Feb-2017 (Public ICO):''' This round was advertised by a tweet and open to the public by downloading a web extension. DFINITY raised CHF3.9 million (US$3.9 million) from 370 participants, at a valuation of $16 million, or a price of $0.03 per token. It held a portion of these funds in ETH and BTC during the 2017 crypto bull run. Seed round participants received all of their tokens at genesis but are staked inside 49 neurons. Each neuron has a different dissolve delay counting from 0 to 48 months. So this is practically equivalent to a 48-month "vesting schedule" see [https://medium.com/dfinity/how-to-access-seed-and-airdrop-icp-tokens-and-participate-in-the-internet-computer-network-e6cd663a0c3c How to Access ‘Seed’ and ‘Airdrop’ ICP Tokens and Participate in the Internet Computer Network].

2. '''Strategic Round, Jan-2018:''' DFINITY raised $20.54 million for 7.00% of the initial supply (the number has been revised from the previously cited 6.84%). This allocation vests monthly over three years starting from mainnet launch (May 2021). Participants include Polychain Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, CoinFund, Multicoin Capital, and Greycroft Partners. This round marks the first token a16z invested in. Polychain and DFINITY later collaborated to create the "DFINITY Ecosystem Venture Fund" (later renamed [https://dfinity.org/ecosystem/fund/ "Beacon Fund"]) of an undisclosed size. The goal is to fund new projects that would grow the IC's application ecosystem. The media reported that DFINITY raised a much larger amount of $61 million, some of which related to funds committed to projects building on the Internet Computer.

3. '''Presale, Aug-2018:''' 110 participants contributed $97 million for 4.96% of the initial supply, sold at 4 CHF (around $4 at the time) per ICP token. This number has been revised from 4.75% previously reported. This allocation came with a monthly vesting schedule of one year from mainnet launch. Vesting began one month after the initial token distribution event on May 10, 2021. Participants in this round include Andreessen Horowitz, Polychain Capital, SV Angel, Aspect Ventures, Electric Capital, ZeroEx, Scalar Capital, and Multicoin Capital.

4. '''Airdrop, May-2018:''' $35 million worth of ICP tokens (formerly DFN), or 0.80% of the initial supply, was airdropped to early supporters by being part of their mailing list, forums, and community. At this time, valuations reached $1.89 billion. Airdrop participants received the IOU version of their ICP tokens in September 2020. This allocation came with a monthly distribution schedule of one year from mainnet launch, which began on May 10, 2021.

==Conclusion==

'''Ultimately, the NNS is controlled by the community so it can vote to change any of the parameters. The parameters and mechanisms described are the current ones.'''

The ICP token has a Total Supply of 525.4MM, Circulating Supply of 474.3MM as of November 2024. 237.5MM ICP (45.2% of total supply) is staked by token holders in the form of neurons with over 85.7% locked for over 1 year.

The number of tokens is constantly changing. The rewards paid out to the node providers and governance participants contribute to the inflation in token supply while factors like compute/storage fees and transaction fees cause deflation in the total supply.

Total supply, circulating supply, and staked ICP

2024-09-16T13:10:04Z

Klangham:

For a crypto community to understand the [[Governance of the Internet Computer | governance]] and [[ICP Tokenomics | tokenomics]] of ICP, understanding the supply of ICP is important.

==Definitions==

===Total supply===

Total supply is the sum of all tokens currently in the system (whether they are locked/staked or not).

The total supply changes over time due to inflation and deflation. Its current value can be seen on the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation IC Circulation page] of the IC dashboard.

===Circulating supply===

The circulating supply is all tokens except liquid (non-staked) tokens owned by the DFINITY Foundation. The circulating supply definition was updated to its current definition on 18APR23 through an approved vote by the NNS on [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/proposal/117360 proposal 117360.]

The current circulating supply can be seen on the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation IC Circulation page] of the IC dashboard.

===Staked ICP===

Staked ICP supply is the sum of all the tokens that are locked or dissolving in neurons at any given time that are earning rewards. At this time, there is a minimum lockup period of 6 months to accrue voting rewards.

The total amount of staked ICP changes over time. Its current value can be seen on the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/neurons Neurons page] of the IC dashboard.

==Numbers==

===At network Genesis===

May 10, 2021:
* Total supply: 469 million
* Circulating supply: 123 million

===Current status===
As of September 16th, 2024:
* Total supply: 522.9 million ICP
* Circulating supply: 470.4 million (90.0% of total supply)
* Staked ICP: 239.5 million (45.8% of total supply).
** 84.3% of ICP staked is staked with more than a 1-year dissolve delay
** 58.4% of ICP staked is staked for an 8-year dissolve
** One can see the breakdown of staked ICP by dissolve delays in [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/neurons IC neuron dashboard].

* As outlined in the section above Circulating supply represents ICP that was ever liquid. A subset of the circulating supply is locked in neurons as staked ICP.

==Inflationary mechanisms==

The NNS mints ICP tokens for two reasons:
* For voting rewards (Governance).
* For node provider rewards.

The amount of ICP minted since Genesis can be seen in the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation "Total Rewards" chart] on the IC dashboard.

===Paying staking rewards===

Voting rewards are generated by minting ICP, although this minting only happens at the moment rewards are spawned, maturity is merged, or the neuron is disbursed.

The voting rewards rate schedule is designed with the goal that 90% of the token supply is staked in neurons. With this goal in mind, in the first year, the NNS allocates 10% of the total supply to generate voting rewards. Note the term "allocates" rather than "mints", because rewards are not minted (increasing the total supply) until they are spawned, merged, or the neuron is disbursed.

As the network becomes more stable over time, this allocation rate drops quadratically until it reaches 5% by year 8. See chart below from the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation IC Circulation page] on the IC dashboard.:

[[File:NNS minting % by year.png|800px|frameless]]

'''Like all parameters in the NNS, this rate schedule can be changed via NNS proposals.'''

See more in [[Staking, voting and rewards]].

===Node provider rewards===

Node providers are rewarded for running the node machines that power the Internet Computer.

==Deflationary mechanisms==

The NNS burns ICP tokens for three reasons:

* To mint cycles, used to pay for compute and storage.
* For transaction fees.
* For failed NNS proposal fees.

The amount of ICP burned since Genesis can be seen in the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation "Total ICP Burned" chart] on the IC dashboard.

===Paying for compute and storage===

Dapp and smart contract developers pay computation and storage costs with cycles. Cycles are acquired from the NNS by converting ICP to cycles, which burns the converted ICP.

The cycles costs for IC computation and storage can be seen at [https://smartcontracts.org/docs/developers-guide/computation-and-storage-costs.html Computation and Storage Costs].

===Transaction fees===

Transferring ICP across accounts incurs a transaction fee of 0.0001 ICP, which is burned.

===Failed NNS proposals===

It costs 10 ICP to submit a proposal. If the proposal passes, the 10 ICP is returned to the proposer. If the proposal is rejected, the 10 ICP is burned. Note that this only happens at disbursement or merging of neurons, so accumulated failed proposal fees can persist for a while before finally contributing to deflation.

==Historical factors affecting circulating supply==

The Internet Computer blockchain is a result of several years of unyielding R&D. By Genesis, the DFINITY foundation, a major contributor to the Internet Computer was over 200 full-time members. Over the past several years the foundation raised financing in three main rounds and also allocated ICP tokens to the community in the form of an airdrop event.

For a breakdown of the different rounds and vesting schedules, see Messari's report [https://messari.io/article/an-introduction-to-dfinity-and-the-internet-computer?referrer=asset:internet-computer "Introduction to ICP"]. The unlocking of neurons has been the '''largest contributing factor''' to circulating supply since Genesis, so it's important to understand the context.

1. '''Seed Round, Feb-2017 (Public ICO):''' This round was advertised by a tweet and open to the public by downloading a web extension. DFINITY raised CHF3.9 million (US$3.9 million) from 370 participants, at a valuation of $16 million, or a price of $0.03 per token. It held a portion of these funds in ETH and BTC during the 2017 crypto bull run. Seed round participants received all of their tokens at genesis but are staked inside 49 neurons. Each neuron has a different dissolve delay counting from 0 to 48 months. So this is practically equivalent to a 48-month "vesting schedule" see [https://medium.com/dfinity/how-to-access-seed-and-airdrop-icp-tokens-and-participate-in-the-internet-computer-network-e6cd663a0c3c How to Access ‘Seed’ and ‘Airdrop’ ICP Tokens and Participate in the Internet Computer Network].

2. '''Strategic Round, Jan-2018:''' DFINITY raised $20.54 million for 7.00% of the initial supply (the number has been revised from the previously cited 6.84%). This allocation vests monthly over three years starting from mainnet launch (May 2021). Participants include Polychain Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, CoinFund, Multicoin Capital, and Greycroft Partners. This round marks the first token a16z invested in. Polychain and DFINITY later collaborated to create the "DFINITY Ecosystem Venture Fund" (later renamed [https://dfinity.org/ecosystem/fund/ "Beacon Fund"]) of an undisclosed size. The goal is to fund new projects that would grow the IC's application ecosystem. The media reported that DFINITY raised a much larger amount of $61 million, some of which related to funds committed to projects building on the Internet Computer.

3. '''Presale, Aug-2018:''' 110 participants contributed $97 million for 4.96% of the initial supply, sold at 4 CHF (around $4 at the time) per ICP token. This number has been revised from 4.75% previously reported. This allocation came with a monthly vesting schedule of one year from mainnet launch. Vesting began one month after the initial token distribution event on May 10, 2021. Participants in this round include Andreessen Horowitz, Polychain Capital, SV Angel, Aspect Ventures, Electric Capital, ZeroEx, Scalar Capital, and Multicoin Capital.

4. '''Airdrop, May-2018:''' $35 million worth of ICP tokens (formerly DFN), or 0.80% of the initial supply, was airdropped to early supporters by being part of their mailing list, forums, and community. At this time, valuations reached $1.89 billion. Airdrop participants received the IOU version of their ICP tokens in September 2020. This allocation came with a monthly distribution schedule of one year from mainnet launch, which began on May 10, 2021.

==Conclusion==

'''Ultimately, the NNS is controlled by the community so it can vote to change any of the parameters. The parameters and mechanisms described are the current ones.'''

The ICP token has a Total Supply of 522.9MM, Circulating Supply of 470.4MM as of September 2024. 239.5MM ICP (45.8% of total supply) is staked by token holders in the form of neurons with over 84.3% locked for over 1 year.

The number of tokens is constantly changing. The rewards paid out to the node providers and governance participants contribute to the inflation in token supply while factors like compute/storage fees and transaction fees cause deflation in the total supply.

Total supply, circulating supply, and staked ICP

2024-08-12T13:14:35Z

Klangham:

For a crypto community to understand the [[Governance of the Internet Computer | governance]] and [[ICP Tokenomics | tokenomics]] of ICP, understanding the supply of ICP is important.

==Definitions==

===Total supply===

Total supply is the sum of all tokens currently in the system (whether they are locked/staked or not).

The total supply changes over time due to inflation and deflation. Its current value can be seen on the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation IC Circulation page] of the IC dashboard.

===Circulating supply===

The circulating supply is all tokens except liquid (non-staked) tokens owned by the DFINITY Foundation. The circulating supply definition was updated to its current definition on 18APR23 through an approved vote by the NNS on [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/proposal/117360 proposal 117360.]

The current circulating supply can be seen on the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation IC Circulation page] of the IC dashboard.

===Staked ICP===

Staked ICP supply is the sum of all the tokens that are locked or dissolving in neurons at any given time that are earning rewards. At this time, there is a minimum lockup period of 6 months to accrue voting rewards.

The total amount of staked ICP changes over time. Its current value can be seen on the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/neurons Neurons page] of the IC dashboard.

==Numbers==

===At network Genesis===

May 10, 2021:
* Total supply: 469 million
* Circulating supply: 123 million

===Current status===
As of August 12th, 2024:
* Total supply: 521.6 million ICP
* Circulating supply: 468.5 million (89.8% of total supply)
* Staked ICP: 240.0 million (46.0% of total supply).
** 84.6% of ICP staked is staked with more than a 1-year dissolve delay
** 58.1% of ICP staked is staked for an 8-year dissolve
** One can see the breakdown of staked ICP by dissolve delays in [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/neurons IC neuron dashboard].

* As outlined in the section above Circulating supply represents ICP that was ever liquid. A subset of the circulating supply is locked in neurons as staked ICP.

==Inflationary mechanisms==

The NNS mints ICP tokens for two reasons:
* For voting rewards (Governance).
* For node provider rewards.

The amount of ICP minted since Genesis can be seen in the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation "Total Rewards" chart] on the IC dashboard.

===Paying staking rewards===

Voting rewards are generated by minting ICP, although this minting only happens at the moment rewards are spawned, maturity is merged, or the neuron is disbursed.

The voting rewards rate schedule is designed with the goal that 90% of the token supply is staked in neurons. With this goal in mind, in the first year, the NNS allocates 10% of the total supply to generate voting rewards. Note the term "allocates" rather than "mints", because rewards are not minted (increasing the total supply) until they are spawned, merged, or the neuron is disbursed.

As the network becomes more stable over time, this allocation rate drops quadratically until it reaches 5% by year 8. See chart below from the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation IC Circulation page] on the IC dashboard.:

[[File:NNS minting % by year.png|800px|frameless]]

'''Like all parameters in the NNS, this rate schedule can be changed via NNS proposals.'''

See more in [[Staking, voting and rewards]].

===Node provider rewards===

Node providers are rewarded for running the node machines that power the Internet Computer.

==Deflationary mechanisms==

The NNS burns ICP tokens for three reasons:

* To mint cycles, used to pay for compute and storage.
* For transaction fees.
* For failed NNS proposal fees.

The amount of ICP burned since Genesis can be seen in the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation "Total ICP Burned" chart] on the IC dashboard.

===Paying for compute and storage===

Dapp and smart contract developers pay computation and storage costs with cycles. Cycles are acquired from the NNS by converting ICP to cycles, which burns the converted ICP.

The cycles costs for IC computation and storage can be seen at [https://smartcontracts.org/docs/developers-guide/computation-and-storage-costs.html Computation and Storage Costs].

===Transaction fees===

Transferring ICP across accounts incurs a transaction fee of 0.0001 ICP, which is burned.

===Failed NNS proposals===

It costs 10 ICP to submit a proposal. If the proposal passes, the 10 ICP is returned to the proposer. If the proposal is rejected, the 10 ICP is burned. Note that this only happens at disbursement or merging of neurons, so accumulated failed proposal fees can persist for a while before finally contributing to deflation.

==Historical factors affecting circulating supply==

The Internet Computer blockchain is a result of several years of unyielding R&D. By Genesis, the DFINITY foundation, a major contributor to the Internet Computer was over 200 full-time members. Over the past several years the foundation raised financing in three main rounds and also allocated ICP tokens to the community in the form of an airdrop event.

For a breakdown of the different rounds and vesting schedules, see Messari's report [https://messari.io/article/an-introduction-to-dfinity-and-the-internet-computer?referrer=asset:internet-computer "Introduction to ICP"]. The unlocking of neurons has been the '''largest contributing factor''' to circulating supply since Genesis, so it's important to understand the context.

1. '''Seed Round, Feb-2017 (Public ICO):''' This round was advertised by a tweet and open to the public by downloading a web extension. DFINITY raised CHF3.9 million (US$3.9 million) from 370 participants, at a valuation of $16 million, or a price of $0.03 per token. It held a portion of these funds in ETH and BTC during the 2017 crypto bull run. Seed round participants received all of their tokens at genesis but are staked inside 49 neurons. Each neuron has a different dissolve delay counting from 0 to 48 months. So this is practically equivalent to a 48-month "vesting schedule" see [https://medium.com/dfinity/how-to-access-seed-and-airdrop-icp-tokens-and-participate-in-the-internet-computer-network-e6cd663a0c3c How to Access ‘Seed’ and ‘Airdrop’ ICP Tokens and Participate in the Internet Computer Network].

2. '''Strategic Round, Jan-2018:''' DFINITY raised $20.54 million for 7.00% of the initial supply (the number has been revised from the previously cited 6.84%). This allocation vests monthly over three years starting from mainnet launch (May 2021). Participants include Polychain Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, CoinFund, Multicoin Capital, and Greycroft Partners. This round marks the first token a16z invested in. Polychain and DFINITY later collaborated to create the "DFINITY Ecosystem Venture Fund" (later renamed [https://dfinity.org/ecosystem/fund/ "Beacon Fund"]) of an undisclosed size. The goal is to fund new projects that would grow the IC's application ecosystem. The media reported that DFINITY raised a much larger amount of $61 million, some of which related to funds committed to projects building on the Internet Computer.

3. '''Presale, Aug-2018:''' 110 participants contributed $97 million for 4.96% of the initial supply, sold at 4 CHF (around $4 at the time) per ICP token. This number has been revised from 4.75% previously reported. This allocation came with a monthly vesting schedule of one year from mainnet launch. Vesting began one month after the initial token distribution event on May 10, 2021. Participants in this round include Andreessen Horowitz, Polychain Capital, SV Angel, Aspect Ventures, Electric Capital, ZeroEx, Scalar Capital, and Multicoin Capital.

4. '''Airdrop, May-2018:''' $35 million worth of ICP tokens (formerly DFN), or 0.80% of the initial supply, was airdropped to early supporters by being part of their mailing list, forums, and community. At this time, valuations reached $1.89 billion. Airdrop participants received the IOU version of their ICP tokens in September 2020. This allocation came with a monthly distribution schedule of one year from mainnet launch, which began on May 10, 2021.

==Conclusion==

'''Ultimately, the NNS is controlled by the community so it can vote to change any of the parameters. The parameters and mechanisms described are the current ones.'''

The ICP token has a Total Supply of 521.6MM, Circulating Supply of 468.5MM as of August 2024. 240.0MM ICP (46.0% of total supply) is staked by token holders in the form of neurons with over 84.6% locked for over 1 year.

The number of tokens is constantly changing. The rewards paid out to the node providers and governance participants contribute to the inflation in token supply while factors like compute/storage fees and transaction fees cause deflation in the total supply.

Total supply, circulating supply, and staked ICP

2024-05-15T19:04:45Z

Klangham:

For a crypto community to understand the [[Governance of the Internet Computer | governance]] and [[ICP Tokenomics | tokenomics]] of ICP, understanding the supply of ICP is important.

==Definitions==

===Total supply===

Total supply is the sum of all tokens currently in the system (whether they are locked/staked or not).

The total supply changes over time due to inflation and deflation. Its current value can be seen on the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation IC Circulation page] of the IC dashboard.

===Circulating supply===

The circulating supply is all tokens except liquid (non-staked) tokens owned by the DFINITY Foundation. The circulating supply definition was updated to its current definition on 18APR23 through an approved vote by the NNS on [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/proposal/117360 proposal 117360.]

The current circulating supply can be seen on the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation IC Circulation page] of the IC dashboard.

===Staked ICP===

Staked ICP supply is the sum of all the tokens that are locked or dissolving in neurons at any given time that are earning rewards. At this time, there is a minimum lockup period of 6 months to accrue voting rewards.

The total amount of staked ICP changes over time. Its current value can be seen on the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/neurons Neurons page] of the IC dashboard.

==Numbers==

===At network Genesis===

May 10, 2021:
* Total supply: 469 million
* Circulating supply: 123 million

===Current status===
As of May 15th, 2024:
* Total supply: 518.8 million ICP
* Circulating supply: 464.0 million (89.4% of total supply)
* Staked ICP: 242.9 million (46.8% of total supply).
** 83.9% of ICP staked is staked with more than a 1-year dissolve delay
** 56.7% of ICP staked is staked for an 8-year dissolve
** One can see the breakdown of staked ICP by dissolve delays in [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/neurons IC neuron dashboard].

* As outlined in the section above Circulating supply represents ICP that was ever liquid. A subset of the circulating supply is locked in neurons as staked ICP.

==Inflationary mechanisms==

The NNS mints ICP tokens for two reasons:
* For voting rewards (Governance).
* For node provider rewards.

The amount of ICP minted since Genesis can be seen in the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation "Total Rewards" chart] on the IC dashboard.

===Paying staking rewards===

Voting rewards are generated by minting ICP, although this minting only happens at the moment rewards are spawned, maturity is merged, or the neuron is disbursed.

The voting rewards rate schedule is designed with the goal that 90% of the token supply is staked in neurons. With this goal in mind, in the first year, the NNS allocates 10% of the total supply to generate voting rewards. Note the term "allocates" rather than "mints", because rewards are not minted (increasing the total supply) until they are spawned, merged, or the neuron is disbursed.

As the network becomes more stable over time, this allocation rate drops quadratically until it reaches 5% by year 8. See chart below from the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation IC Circulation page] on the IC dashboard.:

[[File:NNS minting % by year.png|800px|frameless]]

'''Like all parameters in the NNS, this rate schedule can be changed via NNS proposals.'''

See more in [[Staking, voting and rewards]].

===Node provider rewards===

Node providers are rewarded for running the node machines that power the Internet Computer.

==Deflationary mechanisms==

The NNS burns ICP tokens for three reasons:

* To mint cycles, used to pay for compute and storage.
* For transaction fees.
* For failed NNS proposal fees.

The amount of ICP burned since Genesis can be seen in the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation "Total ICP Burned" chart] on the IC dashboard.

===Paying for compute and storage===

Dapp and smart contract developers pay computation and storage costs with cycles. Cycles are acquired from the NNS by converting ICP to cycles, which burns the converted ICP.

The cycles costs for IC computation and storage can be seen at [https://smartcontracts.org/docs/developers-guide/computation-and-storage-costs.html Computation and Storage Costs].

===Transaction fees===

Transferring ICP across accounts incurs a transaction fee of 0.0001 ICP, which is burned.

===Failed NNS proposals===

It costs 10 ICP to submit a proposal. If the proposal passes, the 10 ICP is returned to the proposer. If the proposal is rejected, the 10 ICP is burned. Note that this only happens at disbursement or merging of neurons, so accumulated failed proposal fees can persist for a while before finally contributing to deflation.

==Historical factors affecting circulating supply==

The Internet Computer blockchain is a result of several years of unyielding R&D. By Genesis, the DFINITY foundation, a major contributor to the Internet Computer was over 200 full-time members. Over the past several years the foundation raised financing in three main rounds and also allocated ICP tokens to the community in the form of an airdrop event.

For a breakdown of the different rounds and vesting schedules, see Messari's report [https://messari.io/article/an-introduction-to-dfinity-and-the-internet-computer?referrer=asset:internet-computer "Introduction to ICP"]. The unlocking of neurons has been the '''largest contributing factor''' to circulating supply since Genesis, so it's important to understand the context.

1. '''Seed Round, Feb-2017 (Public ICO):''' This round was advertised by a tweet and open to the public by downloading a web extension. DFINITY raised CHF3.9 million (US$3.9 million) from 370 participants, at a valuation of $16 million, or a price of $0.03 per token. It held a portion of these funds in ETH and BTC during the 2017 crypto bull run. Seed round participants received all of their tokens at genesis but are staked inside 49 neurons. Each neuron has a different dissolve delay counting from 0 to 48 months. So this is practically equivalent to a 48-month "vesting schedule" see [https://medium.com/dfinity/how-to-access-seed-and-airdrop-icp-tokens-and-participate-in-the-internet-computer-network-e6cd663a0c3c How to Access ‘Seed’ and ‘Airdrop’ ICP Tokens and Participate in the Internet Computer Network].

2. '''Strategic Round, Jan-2018:''' DFINITY raised $20.54 million for 7.00% of the initial supply (the number has been revised from the previously cited 6.84%). This allocation vests monthly over three years starting from mainnet launch (May 2021). Participants include Polychain Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, CoinFund, Multicoin Capital, and Greycroft Partners. This round marks the first token a16z invested in. Polychain and DFINITY later collaborated to create the "DFINITY Ecosystem Venture Fund" (later renamed [https://dfinity.org/ecosystem/fund/ "Beacon Fund"]) of an undisclosed size. The goal is to fund new projects that would grow the IC's application ecosystem. The media reported that DFINITY raised a much larger amount of $61 million, some of which related to funds committed to projects building on the Internet Computer.

3. '''Presale, Aug-2018:''' 110 participants contributed $97 million for 4.96% of the initial supply, sold at 4 CHF (around $4 at the time) per ICP token. This number has been revised from 4.75% previously reported. This allocation came with a monthly vesting schedule of one year from mainnet launch. Vesting began one month after the initial token distribution event on May 10, 2021. Participants in this round include Andreessen Horowitz, Polychain Capital, SV Angel, Aspect Ventures, Electric Capital, ZeroEx, Scalar Capital, and Multicoin Capital.

4. '''Airdrop, May-2018:''' $35 million worth of ICP tokens (formerly DFN), or 0.80% of the initial supply, was airdropped to early supporters by being part of their mailing list, forums, and community. At this time, valuations reached $1.89 billion. Airdrop participants received the IOU version of their ICP tokens in September 2020. This allocation came with a monthly distribution schedule of one year from mainnet launch, which began on May 10, 2021.

==Conclusion==

'''Ultimately, the NNS is controlled by the community so it can vote to change any of the parameters. The parameters and mechanisms described are the current ones.'''

The ICP token has a Total Supply of 518.8MM, Circulating Supply of 464.0MM as of March 2024. 242.9MM ICP (46.8% of total supply) is staked by token holders in the form of neurons with over 83.9% locked for over 1 year.

The number of tokens is constantly changing. The rewards paid out to the node providers and governance participants contribute to the inflation in token supply while factors like compute/storage fees and transaction fees cause deflation in the total supply.

Total supply, circulating supply, and staked ICP

2024-03-14T20:16:33Z

Klangham:

For a crypto community to understand the [[Governance of the Internet Computer | governance]] and [[ICP Tokenomics | tokenomics]] of ICP, understanding the supply of ICP is important.

==Definitions==

===Total supply===

Total supply is the sum of all tokens currently in the system (whether they are locked/staked or not).

The total supply changes over time due to inflation and deflation. Its current value can be seen on the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation IC Circulation page] of the IC dashboard.

===Circulating supply===

The circulating supply is all tokens except liquid (non-staked) tokens owned by the DFINITY Foundation. The circulating supply definition was updated to its current definition on 18APR23 through an approved vote by the NNS on [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/proposal/117360 proposal 117360.]

The current circulating supply can be seen on the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation IC Circulation page] of the IC dashboard.

===Staked ICP===

Staked ICP supply is the sum of all the tokens that are locked or dissolving in neurons at any given time that are earning rewards. At this time, there is a minimum lockup period of 6 months to accrue voting rewards.

The total amount of staked ICP changes over time. Its current value can be seen on the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/neurons Neurons page] of the IC dashboard.

==Numbers==

===At network Genesis===

May 10, 2021:
* Total supply: 469 million
* Circulating supply: 123 million

===Current status===
As of March 14th, 2024:
* Total supply: 515.6 million ICP
* Circulating supply: 460.5 million (89.3% of total supply)
* Staked ICP: 243.8 million (47.2% of total supply).
** 82.8% of ICP staked is staked with more than a 1-year dissolve delay
** 55.9% of ICP staked is staked for an 8-year dissolve
** One can see the breakdown of staked ICP by dissolve delays in [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/neurons IC neuron dashboard].

* As outlined in the section above Circulating supply represents ICP that was ever liquid. A subset of the circulating supply is locked in neurons as staked ICP.

==Inflationary mechanisms==

The NNS mints ICP tokens for two reasons:
* For voting rewards (Governance).
* For node provider rewards.

The amount of ICP minted since Genesis can be seen in the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation "Total Rewards" chart] on the IC dashboard.

===Paying staking rewards===

Voting rewards are generated by minting ICP, although this minting only happens at the moment rewards are spawned, maturity is merged, or the neuron is disbursed.

The voting rewards rate schedule is designed with the goal that 90% of the token supply is staked in neurons. With this goal in mind, in the first year, the NNS allocates 10% of the total supply to generate voting rewards. Note the term "allocates" rather than "mints", because rewards are not minted (increasing the total supply) until they are spawned, merged, or the neuron is disbursed.

As the network becomes more stable over time, this allocation rate drops quadratically until it reaches 5% by year 8. See chart below from the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation IC Circulation page] on the IC dashboard.:

[[File:NNS minting % by year.png|800px|frameless]]

'''Like all parameters in the NNS, this rate schedule can be changed via NNS proposals.'''

See more in [[Staking, voting and rewards]].

===Node provider rewards===

Node providers are rewarded for running the node machines that power the Internet Computer.

==Deflationary mechanisms==

The NNS burns ICP tokens for three reasons:

* To mint cycles, used to pay for compute and storage.
* For transaction fees.
* For failed NNS proposal fees.

The amount of ICP burned since Genesis can be seen in the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation "Total ICP Burned" chart] on the IC dashboard.

===Paying for compute and storage===

Dapp and smart contract developers pay computation and storage costs with cycles. Cycles are acquired from the NNS by converting ICP to cycles, which burns the converted ICP.

The cycles costs for IC computation and storage can be seen at [https://smartcontracts.org/docs/developers-guide/computation-and-storage-costs.html Computation and Storage Costs].

===Transaction fees===

Transferring ICP across accounts incurs a transaction fee of 0.0001 ICP, which is burned.

===Failed NNS proposals===

It costs 10 ICP to submit a proposal. If the proposal passes, the 10 ICP is returned to the proposer. If the proposal is rejected, the 10 ICP is burned. Note that this only happens at disbursement or merging of neurons, so accumulated failed proposal fees can persist for a while before finally contributing to deflation.

==Historical factors affecting circulating supply==

The Internet Computer blockchain is a result of several years of unyielding R&D. By Genesis, the DFINITY foundation, a major contributor to the Internet Computer was over 200 full-time members. Over the past several years the foundation raised financing in three main rounds and also allocated ICP tokens to the community in the form of an airdrop event.

For a breakdown of the different rounds and vesting schedules, see Messari's report [https://messari.io/article/an-introduction-to-dfinity-and-the-internet-computer?referrer=asset:internet-computer "Introduction to ICP"]. The unlocking of neurons has been the '''largest contributing factor''' to circulating supply since Genesis, so it's important to understand the context.

1. '''Seed Round, Feb-2017 (Public ICO):''' This round was advertised by a tweet and open to the public by downloading a web extension. DFINITY raised CHF3.9 million (US$3.9 million) from 370 participants, at a valuation of $16 million, or a price of $0.03 per token. It held a portion of these funds in ETH and BTC during the 2017 crypto bull run. Seed round participants received all of their tokens at genesis but are staked inside 49 neurons. Each neuron has a different dissolve delay counting from 0 to 48 months. So this is practically equivalent to a 48-month "vesting schedule" see [https://medium.com/dfinity/how-to-access-seed-and-airdrop-icp-tokens-and-participate-in-the-internet-computer-network-e6cd663a0c3c How to Access ‘Seed’ and ‘Airdrop’ ICP Tokens and Participate in the Internet Computer Network].

2. '''Strategic Round, Jan-2018:''' DFINITY raised $20.54 million for 7.00% of the initial supply (the number has been revised from the previously cited 6.84%). This allocation vests monthly over three years starting from mainnet launch (May 2021). Participants include Polychain Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, CoinFund, Multicoin Capital, and Greycroft Partners. This round marks the first token a16z invested in. Polychain and DFINITY later collaborated to create the "DFINITY Ecosystem Venture Fund" (later renamed [https://dfinity.org/ecosystem/fund/ "Beacon Fund"]) of an undisclosed size. The goal is to fund new projects that would grow the IC's application ecosystem. The media reported that DFINITY raised a much larger amount of $61 million, some of which related to funds committed to projects building on the Internet Computer.

3. '''Presale, Aug-2018:''' 110 participants contributed $97 million for 4.96% of the initial supply, sold at 4 CHF (around $4 at the time) per ICP token. This number has been revised from 4.75% previously reported. This allocation came with a monthly vesting schedule of one year from mainnet launch. Vesting began one month after the initial token distribution event on May 10, 2021. Participants in this round include Andreessen Horowitz, Polychain Capital, SV Angel, Aspect Ventures, Electric Capital, ZeroEx, Scalar Capital, and Multicoin Capital.

4. '''Airdrop, May-2018:''' $35 million worth of ICP tokens (formerly DFN), or 0.80% of the initial supply, was airdropped to early supporters by being part of their mailing list, forums, and community. At this time, valuations reached $1.89 billion. Airdrop participants received the IOU version of their ICP tokens in September 2020. This allocation came with a monthly distribution schedule of one year from mainnet launch, which began on May 10, 2021.

==Conclusion==

'''Ultimately, the NNS is controlled by the community so it can vote to change any of the parameters. The parameters and mechanisms described are the current ones.'''

The ICP token has a Total Supply of 515.6MM, Circulating Supply of 460.5MM as of March 2024. 243.8MM ICP (47.2% of total supply) is staked by token holders in the form of neurons with over 82.8% locked for over 1 year.

The number of tokens is constantly changing. The rewards paid out to the node providers and governance participants contribute to the inflation in token supply while factors like compute/storage fees and transaction fees cause deflation in the total supply.

Total supply, circulating supply, and staked ICP

2024-01-18T14:21:10Z

Klangham:

For a crypto community to understand the [[Governance of the Internet Computer | governance]] and [[ICP Tokenomics | tokenomics]] of ICP, understanding the supply of ICP is important.

==Definitions==

===Total supply===

Total supply is the sum of all tokens currently in the system (whether they are locked/staked or not).

The total supply changes over time due to inflation and deflation. Its current value can be seen on the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation IC Circulation page] of the IC dashboard.

===Circulating supply===

The circulating supply is all tokens except liquid (non-staked) tokens owned by the DFINITY Foundation. The circulating supply definition was updated to its current definition on 18APR23 through an approved vote by the NNS on [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/proposal/117360 proposal 117360.]

The current circulating supply can be seen on the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation IC Circulation page] of the IC dashboard.

===Staked ICP===

Staked ICP supply is the sum of all the tokens that are locked or dissolving in neurons at any given time that are earning rewards. At this time, there is a minimum lockup period of 6 months to accrue voting rewards.

The total amount of staked ICP changes over time. Its current value can be seen on the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/neurons Neurons page] of the IC dashboard.

==Numbers==

===At network Genesis===

May 10, 2021:
* Total supply: 469 million
* Circulating supply: 123 million

===Current status===
As of January 18th, 2024:
* Total supply: 513.6 million ICP
* Circulating supply: 455.8 million (88.2% of total supply)
* Staked ICP: 246.3 million (48.0% of total supply).
** 82.5% of ICP staked is staked with more than a 1-year dissolve delay
** 55.1% of ICP staked is staked for an 8-year dissolve
** One can see the breakdown of staked ICP by dissolve delays in [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/neurons IC neuron dashboard].

* As outlined in the section above Circulating supply represents ICP that was ever liquid. A subset of the circulating supply is locked in neurons as staked ICP.

==Inflationary mechanisms==

The NNS mints ICP tokens for two reasons:
* For voting rewards (Governance).
* For node provider rewards.

The amount of ICP minted since Genesis can be seen in the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation "Total Rewards" chart] on the IC dashboard.

===Paying staking rewards===

Voting rewards are generated by minting ICP, although this minting only happens at the moment rewards are spawned, maturity is merged, or the neuron is disbursed.

The voting rewards rate schedule is designed with the goal that 90% of the token supply is staked in neurons. With this goal in mind, in the first year, the NNS allocates 10% of the total supply to generate voting rewards. Note the term "allocates" rather than "mints", because rewards are not minted (increasing the total supply) until they are spawned, merged, or the neuron is disbursed.

As the network becomes more stable over time, this allocation rate drops quadratically until it reaches 5% by year 8. See chart below from the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation IC Circulation page] on the IC dashboard.:

[[File:NNS minting % by year.png|800px|frameless]]

'''Like all parameters in the NNS, this rate schedule can be changed via NNS proposals.'''

See more in [[Staking, voting and rewards]].

===Node provider rewards===

Node providers are rewarded for running the node machines that power the Internet Computer.

==Deflationary mechanisms==

The NNS burns ICP tokens for three reasons:

* To mint cycles, used to pay for compute and storage.
* For transaction fees.
* For failed NNS proposal fees.

The amount of ICP burned since Genesis can be seen in the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation "Total ICP Burned" chart] on the IC dashboard.

===Paying for compute and storage===

Dapp and smart contract developers pay computation and storage costs with cycles. Cycles are acquired from the NNS by converting ICP to cycles, which burns the converted ICP.

The cycles costs for IC computation and storage can be seen at [https://smartcontracts.org/docs/developers-guide/computation-and-storage-costs.html Computation and Storage Costs].

===Transaction fees===

Transferring ICP across accounts incurs a transaction fee of 0.0001 ICP, which is burned.

===Failed NNS proposals===

It costs 10 ICP to submit a proposal. If the proposal passes, the 10 ICP is returned to the proposer. If the proposal is rejected, the 10 ICP is burned. Note that this only happens at disbursement or merging of neurons, so accumulated failed proposal fees can persist for a while before finally contributing to deflation.

==Historical factors affecting circulating supply==

The Internet Computer blockchain is a result of several years of unyielding R&D. By Genesis, the DFINITY foundation, a major contributor to the Internet Computer was over 200 full-time members. Over the past several years the foundation raised financing in three main rounds and also allocated ICP tokens to the community in the form of an airdrop event.

For a breakdown of the different rounds and vesting schedules, see Messari's report [https://messari.io/article/an-introduction-to-dfinity-and-the-internet-computer?referrer=asset:internet-computer "Introduction to ICP"]. The unlocking of neurons has been the '''largest contributing factor''' to circulating supply since Genesis, so it's important to understand the context.

1. '''Seed Round, Feb-2017 (Public ICO):''' This round was advertised by a tweet and open to the public by downloading a web extension. DFINITY raised CHF3.9 million (US$3.9 million) from 370 participants, at a valuation of $16 million, or a price of $0.03 per token. It held a portion of these funds in ETH and BTC during the 2017 crypto bull run. Seed round participants received all of their tokens at genesis but are staked inside 49 neurons. Each neuron has a different dissolve delay counting from 0 to 48 months. So this is practically equivalent to a 48-month "vesting schedule" see [https://medium.com/dfinity/how-to-access-seed-and-airdrop-icp-tokens-and-participate-in-the-internet-computer-network-e6cd663a0c3c How to Access ‘Seed’ and ‘Airdrop’ ICP Tokens and Participate in the Internet Computer Network].

2. '''Strategic Round, Jan-2018:''' DFINITY raised $20.54 million for 7.00% of the initial supply (the number has been revised from the previously cited 6.84%). This allocation vests monthly over three years starting from mainnet launch (May 2021). Participants include Polychain Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, CoinFund, Multicoin Capital, and Greycroft Partners. This round marks the first token a16z invested in. Polychain and DFINITY later collaborated to create the "DFINITY Ecosystem Venture Fund" (later renamed [https://dfinity.org/ecosystem/fund/ "Beacon Fund"]) of an undisclosed size. The goal is to fund new projects that would grow the IC's application ecosystem. The media reported that DFINITY raised a much larger amount of $61 million, some of which related to funds committed to projects building on the Internet Computer.

3. '''Presale, Aug-2018:''' 110 participants contributed $97 million for 4.96% of the initial supply, sold at 4 CHF (around $4 at the time) per ICP token. This number has been revised from 4.75% previously reported. This allocation came with a monthly vesting schedule of one year from mainnet launch. Vesting began one month after the initial token distribution event on May 10, 2021. Participants in this round include Andreessen Horowitz, Polychain Capital, SV Angel, Aspect Ventures, Electric Capital, ZeroEx, Scalar Capital, and Multicoin Capital.

4. '''Airdrop, May-2018:''' $35 million worth of ICP tokens (formerly DFN), or 0.80% of the initial supply, was airdropped to early supporters by being part of their mailing list, forums, and community. At this time, valuations reached $1.89 billion. Airdrop participants received the IOU version of their ICP tokens in September 2020. This allocation came with a monthly distribution schedule of one year from mainnet launch, which began on May 10, 2021.

==Conclusion==

'''Ultimately, the NNS is controlled by the community so it can vote to change any of the parameters. The parameters and mechanisms described are the current ones.'''

The ICP token has a Total Supply of 513.6MM, Circulating Supply of 455.8MM as of January, 2024. 246.3MM ICP (48.0% of total supply) is staked by token holders in the form of neurons with over 82.5% locked for over 1 year.

The number of tokens is constantly changing. The rewards paid out to the node providers and governance participants contribute to the inflation in token supply while factors like compute/storage fees and transaction fees cause deflation in the total supply.

Total supply, circulating supply, and staked ICP

2023-12-13T15:27:45Z

Klangham:

For a crypto community to understand the [[Governance of the Internet Computer | governance]] and [[ICP Tokenomics | tokenomics]] of ICP, understanding the supply of ICP is important.

==Definitions==

===Total supply===

Total supply is the sum of all tokens currently in the system (whether they are locked/staked or not).

The total supply changes over time due to inflation and deflation. Its current value can be seen on the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation IC Circulation page] of the IC dashboard.

===Circulating supply===

The circulating supply is all tokens except liquid (non-staked) tokens owned by the DFINITY Foundation. The circulating supply definition was updated to its current definition on 18APR23 through an approved vote by the NNS on [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/proposal/117360 proposal 117360.]

The current circulating supply can be seen on the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation IC Circulation page] of the IC dashboard.

===Staked ICP===

Staked ICP supply is the sum of all the tokens that are locked or dissolving in neurons at any given time that are earning rewards. At this time, there is a minimum lockup period of 6 months to accrue voting rewards.

The total amount of staked ICP changes over time. Its current value can be seen on the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/neurons Neurons page] of the IC dashboard.

==Numbers==

===At network Genesis===

May 10, 2021:
* Total supply: 469 million
* Circulating supply: 123 million

===Current status===
As of December 13th, 2023:
* Total supply: 510.6 million ICP
* Circulating supply: 450.2 million (88.2% of total supply)
* Staked ICP: 246.3 million (48.2% of total supply).
** 82.7% of ICP staked is staked with more than a 1-year dissolve delay
** 54.5% of ICP staked is staked for an 8-year dissolve
** One can see the breakdown of staked ICP by dissolve delays in [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/neurons IC neuron dashboard].

* As outlined in the section above Circulating supply represents ICP that was ever liquid. A subset of the circulating supply is locked in neurons as staked ICP.

==Inflationary mechanisms==

The NNS mints ICP tokens for two reasons:
* For voting rewards (Governance).
* For node provider rewards.

The amount of ICP minted since Genesis can be seen in the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation "Total Rewards" chart] on the IC dashboard.

===Paying staking rewards===

Voting rewards are generated by minting ICP, although this minting only happens at the moment rewards are spawned, maturity is merged, or the neuron is disbursed.

The voting rewards rate schedule is designed with the goal that 90% of the token supply is staked in neurons. With this goal in mind, in the first year, the NNS allocates 10% of the total supply to generate voting rewards. Note the term "allocates" rather than "mints", because rewards are not minted (increasing the total supply) until they are spawned, merged, or the neuron is disbursed.

As the network becomes more stable over time, this allocation rate drops quadratically until it reaches 5% by year 8. See chart below from the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation IC Circulation page] on the IC dashboard.:

[[File:NNS minting % by year.png|800px|frameless]]

'''Like all parameters in the NNS, this rate schedule can be changed via NNS proposals.'''

See more in [[Staking, voting and rewards]].

===Node provider rewards===

Node providers are rewarded for running the node machines that power the Internet Computer.

==Deflationary mechanisms==

The NNS burns ICP tokens for three reasons:

* To mint cycles, used to pay for compute and storage.
* For transaction fees.
* For failed NNS proposal fees.

The amount of ICP burned since Genesis can be seen in the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation "Total ICP Burned" chart] on the IC dashboard.

===Paying for compute and storage===

Dapp and smart contract developers pay computation and storage costs with cycles. Cycles are acquired from the NNS by converting ICP to cycles, which burns the converted ICP.

The cycles costs for IC computation and storage can be seen at [https://smartcontracts.org/docs/developers-guide/computation-and-storage-costs.html Computation and Storage Costs].

===Transaction fees===

Transferring ICP across accounts incurs a transaction fee of 0.0001 ICP, which is burned.

===Failed NNS proposals===

It costs 10 ICP to submit a proposal. If the proposal passes, the 10 ICP is returned to the proposer. If the proposal is rejected, the 10 ICP is burned. Note that this only happens at disbursement or merging of neurons, so accumulated failed proposal fees can persist for a while before finally contributing to deflation.

==Historical factors affecting circulating supply==

The Internet Computer blockchain is a result of several years of unyielding R&D. By Genesis, the DFINITY foundation, a major contributor to the Internet Computer was over 200 full-time members. Over the past several years the foundation raised financing in three main rounds and also allocated ICP tokens to the community in the form of an airdrop event.

For a breakdown of the different rounds and vesting schedules, see Messari's report [https://messari.io/article/an-introduction-to-dfinity-and-the-internet-computer?referrer=asset:internet-computer "Introduction to ICP"]. The unlocking of neurons has been the '''largest contributing factor''' to circulating supply since Genesis, so it's important to understand the context.

1. '''Seed Round, Feb-2017 (Public ICO):''' This round was advertised by a tweet and open to the public by downloading a web extension. DFINITY raised CHF3.9 million (US$3.9 million) from 370 participants, at a valuation of $16 million, or a price of $0.03 per token. It held a portion of these funds in ETH and BTC during the 2017 crypto bull run. Seed round participants received all of their tokens at genesis but are staked inside 49 neurons. Each neuron has a different dissolve delay counting from 0 to 48 months. So this is practically equivalent to a 48-month "vesting schedule" see [https://medium.com/dfinity/how-to-access-seed-and-airdrop-icp-tokens-and-participate-in-the-internet-computer-network-e6cd663a0c3c How to Access ‘Seed’ and ‘Airdrop’ ICP Tokens and Participate in the Internet Computer Network].

2. '''Strategic Round, Jan-2018:''' DFINITY raised $20.54 million for 7.00% of the initial supply (the number has been revised from the previously cited 6.84%). This allocation vests monthly over three years starting from mainnet launch (May 2021). Participants include Polychain Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, CoinFund, Multicoin Capital, and Greycroft Partners. This round marks the first token a16z invested in. Polychain and DFINITY later collaborated to create the "DFINITY Ecosystem Venture Fund" (later renamed [https://dfinity.org/ecosystem/fund/ "Beacon Fund"]) of an undisclosed size. The goal is to fund new projects that would grow the IC's application ecosystem. The media reported that DFINITY raised a much larger amount of $61 million, some of which related to funds committed to projects building on the Internet Computer.

3. '''Presale, Aug-2018:''' 110 participants contributed $97 million for 4.96% of the initial supply, sold at 4 CHF (around $4 at the time) per ICP token. This number has been revised from 4.75% previously reported. This allocation came with a monthly vesting schedule of one year from mainnet launch. Vesting began one month after the initial token distribution event on May 10, 2021. Participants in this round include Andreessen Horowitz, Polychain Capital, SV Angel, Aspect Ventures, Electric Capital, ZeroEx, Scalar Capital, and Multicoin Capital.

4. '''Airdrop, May-2018:''' $35 million worth of ICP tokens (formerly DFN), or 0.80% of the initial supply, was airdropped to early supporters by being part of their mailing list, forums, and community. At this time, valuations reached $1.89 billion. Airdrop participants received the IOU version of their ICP tokens in September 2020. This allocation came with a monthly distribution schedule of one year from mainnet launch, which began on May 10, 2021.

==Conclusion==

'''Ultimately, the NNS is controlled by the community so it can vote to change any of the parameters. The parameters and mechanisms described are the current ones.'''

The ICP token has a Total Supply of 510.6MM, Circulating Supply of 450.2MM as of November, 2023. 246.3MM ICP (48.2% of total supply) is staked by token holders in the form of neurons with over 82.7% locked for over 1 year.

The number of tokens is constantly changing. The rewards paid out to the node providers and governance participants contribute to the inflation in token supply while factors like compute/storage fees and transaction fees cause deflation in the total supply.

Total supply, circulating supply, and staked ICP

2023-11-16T17:14:18Z

Klangham:

For a crypto community to understand the [[Governance of the Internet Computer | governance]] and [[ICP Tokenomics | tokenomics]] of ICP, understanding the supply of ICP is important.

==Definitions==

===Total supply===

Total supply is the sum of all tokens currently in the system (whether they are locked/staked or not).

The total supply changes over time due to inflation and deflation. Its current value can be seen on the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation IC Circulation page] of the IC dashboard.

===Circulating supply===

The circulating supply is all tokens except liquid (non-staked) tokens owned by the DFINITY Foundation. The circulating supply definition was updated to its current definition on 18APR23 through an approved vote by the NNS on [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/proposal/117360 proposal 117360.]

The current circulating supply can be seen on the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation IC Circulation page] of the IC dashboard.

===Staked ICP===

Staked ICP supply is the sum of all the tokens that are locked or dissolving in neurons at any given time that are earning rewards. At this time, there is a minimum lockup period of 6 months to accrue voting rewards.

The total amount of staked ICP changes over time. Its current value can be seen on the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/neurons Neurons page] of the IC dashboard.

==Numbers==

===At network Genesis===

May 10, 2021:
* Total supply: 469 million
* Circulating supply: 123 million

===Current status===
As of November 16th, 2023:
* Total supply: 509.9 million ICP
* Circulating supply: 449.5 million (88.2% of total supply)
* Staked ICP: 247.7 million (48.6% of total supply).
** 86.6% of ICP staked is staked with more than a 1-year dissolve delay
** 54.0% of ICP staked is staked for an 8-year dissolve
** One can see the breakdown of staked ICP by dissolve delays in [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/neurons IC neuron dashboard].

* As outlined in the section above Circulating supply represents ICP that was ever liquid. A subset of the circulating supply is locked in neurons as staked ICP.

==Inflationary mechanisms==

The NNS mints ICP tokens for two reasons:
* For voting rewards (Governance).
* For node provider rewards.

The amount of ICP minted since Genesis can be seen in the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation "Total Rewards" chart] on the IC dashboard.

===Paying staking rewards===

Voting rewards are generated by minting ICP, although this minting only happens at the moment rewards are spawned, maturity is merged, or the neuron is disbursed.

The voting rewards rate schedule is designed with the goal that 90% of the token supply is staked in neurons. With this goal in mind, in the first year, the NNS allocates 10% of the total supply to generate voting rewards. Note the term "allocates" rather than "mints", because rewards are not minted (increasing the total supply) until they are spawned, merged, or the neuron is disbursed.

As the network becomes more stable over time, this allocation rate drops quadratically until it reaches 5% by year 8. See chart below from the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation IC Circulation page] on the IC dashboard.:

[[File:NNS minting % by year.png|800px|frameless]]

'''Like all parameters in the NNS, this rate schedule can be changed via NNS proposals.'''

See more in [[Staking, voting and rewards]].

===Node provider rewards===

Node providers are rewarded for running the node machines that power the Internet Computer.

==Deflationary mechanisms==

The NNS burns ICP tokens for three reasons:

* To mint cycles, used to pay for compute and storage.
* For transaction fees.
* For failed NNS proposal fees.

The amount of ICP burned since Genesis can be seen in the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation "Total ICP Burned" chart] on the IC dashboard.

===Paying for compute and storage===

Dapp and smart contract developers pay computation and storage costs with cycles. Cycles are acquired from the NNS by converting ICP to cycles, which burns the converted ICP.

The cycles costs for IC computation and storage can be seen at [https://smartcontracts.org/docs/developers-guide/computation-and-storage-costs.html Computation and Storage Costs].

===Transaction fees===

Transferring ICP across accounts incurs a transaction fee of 0.0001 ICP, which is burned.

===Failed NNS proposals===

It costs 10 ICP to submit a proposal. If the proposal passes, the 10 ICP is returned to the proposer. If the proposal is rejected, the 10 ICP is burned. Note that this only happens at disbursement or merging of neurons, so accumulated failed proposal fees can persist for a while before finally contributing to deflation.

==Historical factors affecting circulating supply==

The Internet Computer blockchain is a result of several years of unyielding R&D. By Genesis, the DFINITY foundation, a major contributor to the Internet Computer was over 200 full-time members. Over the past several years the foundation raised financing in three main rounds and also allocated ICP tokens to the community in the form of an airdrop event.

For a breakdown of the different rounds and vesting schedules, see Messari's report [https://messari.io/article/an-introduction-to-dfinity-and-the-internet-computer?referrer=asset:internet-computer "Introduction to ICP"]. The unlocking of neurons has been the '''largest contributing factor''' to circulating supply since Genesis, so it's important to understand the context.

1. '''Seed Round, Feb-2017 (Public ICO):''' This round was advertised by a tweet and open to the public by downloading a web extension. DFINITY raised CHF3.9 million (US$3.9 million) from 370 participants, at a valuation of $16 million, or a price of $0.03 per token. It held a portion of these funds in ETH and BTC during the 2017 crypto bull run. Seed round participants received all of their tokens at genesis but are staked inside 49 neurons. Each neuron has a different dissolve delay counting from 0 to 49 months. So this is practically equivalent to a 49-month "vesting schedule" see [https://medium.com/dfinity/how-to-access-seed-and-airdrop-icp-tokens-and-participate-in-the-internet-computer-network-e6cd663a0c3c How to Access ‘Seed’ and ‘Airdrop’ ICP Tokens and Participate in the Internet Computer Network].

2. '''Strategic Round, Jan-2018:''' DFINITY raised $20.54 million for 7.00% of the initial supply (the number has been revised from the previously cited 6.84%). This allocation will vest monthly over three years starting from mainnet launch (May 2021). Participants include Polychain Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, CoinFund, Multicoin Capital, and Greycroft Partners. This round marks the first token a16z invested in. Polychain and DFINITY later collaborated to create the "DFINITY Ecosystem Venture Fund" (later renamed [https://dfinity.org/ecosystem/fund/ "Beacon Fund"]) of an undisclosed size. The goal is to fund new projects that would grow the IC's application ecosystem. The media reported that DFINITY raised a much larger amount of $61 million, some of which related to funds committed to projects building on the Internet Computer.

3. '''Presale, Aug-2018:''' 110 participants contributed $97 million for 4.96% of the initial supply, sold at 4 CHF (around $4 at the time) per ICP token. This number has been revised from 4.75% previously reported. This allocation came with a monthly vesting schedule of one year from mainnet launch. Vesting began one month after the initial token distribution event on May 10, 2021. Participants in this round include Andreessen Horowitz, Polychain Capital, SV Angel, Aspect Ventures, Electric Capital, ZeroEx, Scalar Capital, and Multicoin Capital.

4. '''Airdrop, May-2018:''' $35 million worth of ICP tokens (formerly DFN), or 0.80% of the initial supply, was airdropped to early supporters by being part of their mailing list, forums, and community. At this time, valuations reached $1.89 billion. Airdrop participants received the IOU version of their ICP tokens in September 2020. This allocation came with a monthly distribution schedule of one year from mainnet launch, which began on May 10, 2021.

==Conclusion==

'''Ultimately, the NNS is controlled by the community so it can vote to change any of the parameters. The parameters and mechanisms described are the current ones.'''

The ICP token has a Total Supply of 509.9MM, Circulating Supply of 449.5MM as of November, 2023. 247.7MM ICP (48.6% of total supply) is staked by token holders in the form of neurons with over 86.6% locked for over 1 year.

The number of tokens is constantly changing. The rewards paid out to the node providers and governance participants contribute to the inflation in token supply while factors like compute/storage fees and transaction fees cause deflation in the total supply.

Total supply, circulating supply, and staked ICP

2023-10-19T12:50:01Z

Klangham: Updated October stats

For a crypto community to understand the [[Governance of the Internet Computer | governance]] and [[ICP Tokenomics | tokenomics]] of ICP, understanding the supply of ICP is important.

==Definitions==

===Total supply===

Total supply is the sum of all tokens currently in the system (whether they are locked/staked or not).

The total supply changes over time due to inflation and deflation. Its current value can be seen on the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation IC Circulation page] of the IC dashboard.

===Circulating supply===

The circulating supply is all tokens except liquid (non-staked) tokens owned by the DFINITY Foundation. The circulating supply definition was updated to its current definition on 18APR23 through an approved vote by the NNS on [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/proposal/117360 proposal 117360.]

The current circulating supply can be seen on the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation IC Circulation page] of the IC dashboard.

===Staked ICP===

Staked ICP supply is the sum of all the tokens that are locked or dissolving in neurons at any given time that are earning rewards. At this time, there is a minimum lockup period of 6 months to accrue voting rewards.

The total amount of staked ICP changes over time. Its current value can be seen on the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/neurons Neurons page] of the IC dashboard.

==Numbers==

===At network Genesis===

May 10, 2021:
* Total supply: 469 million
* Circulating supply: 123 million

===Current status===
As of October 19th, 2023:
* Total supply: 508.2 million ICP
* Circulating supply: 446.9 million (87.9% of total supply)
* Staked ICP: 249.0 million (49.0% of total supply).
** 82.4% of ICP staked is staked with more than a 1-year dissolve delay
** 53.5% of ICP staked is staked for an 8-year dissolve
** One can see the breakdown of staked ICP by dissolve delays in [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/neurons IC neuron dashboard].

* As outlined in the section above Circulating supply represents ICP that was ever liquid. A subset of the circulating supply is locked in neurons as staked ICP.

==Inflationary mechanisms==

The NNS mints ICP tokens for two reasons:
* For voting rewards (Governance).
* For node provider rewards.

The amount of ICP minted since Genesis can be seen in the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation "Total Rewards" chart] on the IC dashboard.

===Paying staking rewards===

Voting rewards are generated by minting ICP, although this minting only happens at the moment rewards are spawned, maturity is merged, or the neuron is disbursed.

The voting rewards rate schedule is designed with the goal that 90% of the token supply is staked in neurons. With this goal in mind, in the first year, the NNS allocates 10% of the total supply to generate voting rewards. Note the term "allocates" rather than "mints", because rewards are not minted (increasing the total supply) until they are spawned, merged, or the neuron is disbursed.

As the network becomes more stable over time, this allocation rate drops quadratically until it reaches 5% by year 8. See chart below from the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation IC Circulation page] on the IC dashboard.:

[[File:NNS minting % by year.png|800px|frameless]]

'''Like all parameters in the NNS, this rate schedule can be changed via NNS proposals.'''

See more in [[Staking, voting and rewards]].

===Node provider rewards===

Node providers are rewarded for running the node machines that power the Internet Computer.

==Deflationary mechanisms==

The NNS burns ICP tokens for three reasons:

* To mint cycles, used to pay for compute and storage.
* For transaction fees.
* For failed NNS proposal fees.

The amount of ICP burned since Genesis can be seen in the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation "Total ICP Burned" chart] on the IC dashboard.

===Paying for compute and storage===

Dapp and smart contract developers pay computation and storage costs with cycles. Cycles are acquired from the NNS by converting ICP to cycles, which burns the converted ICP.

The cycles costs for IC computation and storage can be seen at [https://smartcontracts.org/docs/developers-guide/computation-and-storage-costs.html Computation and Storage Costs].

===Transaction fees===

Transferring ICP across accounts incurs a transaction fee of 0.0001 ICP, which is burned.

===Failed NNS proposals===

It costs 10 ICP to submit a proposal. If the proposal passes, the 10 ICP is returned to the proposer. If the proposal is rejected, the 10 ICP is burned. Note that this only happens at disbursement or merging of neurons, so accumulated failed proposal fees can persist for a while before finally contributing to deflation.

==Historical factors affecting circulating supply==

The Internet Computer blockchain is a result of several years of unyielding R&D. By Genesis, the DFINITY foundation, a major contributor to the Internet Computer was over 200 full-time members. Over the past several years the foundation raised financing in three main rounds and also allocated ICP tokens to the community in the form of an airdrop event.

For a breakdown of the different rounds and vesting schedules, see Messari's report [https://messari.io/article/an-introduction-to-dfinity-and-the-internet-computer?referrer=asset:internet-computer "Introduction to ICP"]. The unlocking of neurons has been the '''largest contributing factor''' to circulating supply since Genesis, so it's important to understand the context.

1. '''Seed Round, Feb-2017 (Public ICO):''' This round was advertised by a tweet and open to the public by downloading a web extension. DFINITY raised CHF3.9 million (US$3.9 million) from 370 participants, at a valuation of $16 million, or a price of $0.03 per token. It held a portion of these funds in ETH and BTC during the 2017 crypto bull run. Seed round participants received all of their tokens at genesis but are staked inside 49 neurons. Each neuron has a different dissolve delay counting from 0 to 49 months. So this is practically equivalent to a 49-month "vesting schedule" see [https://medium.com/dfinity/how-to-access-seed-and-airdrop-icp-tokens-and-participate-in-the-internet-computer-network-e6cd663a0c3c How to Access ‘Seed’ and ‘Airdrop’ ICP Tokens and Participate in the Internet Computer Network].

2. '''Strategic Round, Jan-2018:''' DFINITY raised $20.54 million for 7.00% of the initial supply (the number has been revised from the previously cited 6.84%). This allocation will vest monthly over three years starting from mainnet launch (May 2021). Participants include Polychain Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, CoinFund, Multicoin Capital, and Greycroft Partners. This round marks the first token a16z invested in. Polychain and DFINITY later collaborated to create the "DFINITY Ecosystem Venture Fund" (later renamed [https://dfinity.org/ecosystem/fund/ "Beacon Fund"]) of an undisclosed size. The goal is to fund new projects that would grow the IC's application ecosystem. The media reported that DFINITY raised a much larger amount of $61 million, some of which related to funds committed to projects building on the Internet Computer.

3. '''Presale, Aug-2018:''' 110 participants contributed $97 million for 4.96% of the initial supply, sold at 4 CHF (around $4 at the time) per ICP token. This number has been revised from 4.75% previously reported. This allocation came with a monthly vesting schedule of one year from mainnet launch. Vesting began one month after the initial token distribution event on May 10, 2021. Participants in this round include Andreessen Horowitz, Polychain Capital, SV Angel, Aspect Ventures, Electric Capital, ZeroEx, Scalar Capital, and Multicoin Capital.

4. '''Airdrop, May-2018:''' $35 million worth of ICP tokens (formerly DFN), or 0.80% of the initial supply, was airdropped to early supporters by being part of their mailing list, forums, and community. At this time, valuations reached $1.89 billion. Airdrop participants received the IOU version of their ICP tokens in September 2020. This allocation came with a monthly distribution schedule of one year from mainnet launch, which began on May 10, 2021.

==Conclusion==

'''Ultimately, the NNS is controlled by the community so it can vote to change any of the parameters. The parameters and mechanisms described are the current ones.'''

The ICP token has a Total Supply of 508.2MM, Circulating Supply of 446.9MM as of October, 2023. 249.0MM ICP (49.0% of total supply) is staked by token holders in the form of neurons with over 82.4% locked for over 1 year.

The number of tokens is constantly changing. The rewards paid out to the node providers and governance participants contribute to the inflation in token supply while factors like compute/storage fees and transaction fees cause deflation in the total supply.

Total supply, circulating supply, and staked ICP

2022-08-22T14:03:05Z

Klangham:

For a crypto community to understand the governance and tokenomics of the IC, understanding the supply of ICP is important.

==Background: Tokenomics==

Before we get into the discussion of Total Supply and Circulating Supply, it is important to understand a bit about the Tokenomics of ICP. ICP is the utility token of the Internet Computer blockchain. The following are the core use cases that outline how the ICP token helps in the functioning of the Internet Computer blockchain.

'''1. Node Provider Rewards:''' The node providers that offer compute/storage infrastructure to the Internet Computer blockchain receive ICP rewards. Each node receives a flat monthly reward calculated in fiat and paid in the form of ICP tokens. This model ensures that the cost that the network bears for running a node is always constant in fiat terms. The reward varies slightly based on the geographical location of the node to ensure the IC is able to achieve a wider geographical distribution of nodes. Each node provider continues to receive rewards as long as they guarantee the right quality of service. The rewards are paid by minting new ICP tokens, causing inflation.

'''2. Governance:''' ICP token holder can stake (lock) their tokens to create Neurons. Holding neurons enables them to secure voting rights via the IC’s on-chain open governance system, the Network Nervous System (NNS). The NNS enables the neuron holders (people staking ICP) to vote on proposals related to aspects like upgrading the IC protocol and software running on node machines, onboarding new node providers, adding node machines into the blockchain network, and creating new subnet blockchains to increase capacity. The NNS implements liquid democracy: neurons can follow other neurons a delegate voting power. The neuron holders receive rewards from the IC protocol for participating in the voting process and helping with the governance. These voting rewards are also paid by minting new ICP tokens, causing inflation.

'''3. Fuel for Computation/Storage:''' Canister smart contract computations running on the Internet Computer blockchain are fueled by “cycles”. These cycles are derived by burning ICP tokens. The cycles play a similar role to “gas” on Ethereum. There are several major differences, however. One of the most fundamental differences is that Ethereum leverages “user pays” while the Internet Computer has “smart contract pays” model (sometimes called “reverse gas”) model. Whereas the Ethereum blockchain requires end-users to send payments for the gas that smart contracts consume with every transaction, on the Internet Computer, Canister smart contracts are pre-charged with cycles, such that contracts effectively pay for their own computation - freeing users from the responsibility. Cycles are generated by burning ICP utility tokens, causing deflation.

'''4. Transaction/Proposal Fees:''' When any ICP holder transfers their ICP from one wallet to another they incur a small transaction fee paid in ICP. Additionally, ICP holders pay a small fee while submitting new proposals to the NNS. These fees are burnt as a part of the transaction, causing deflation.

To summarize, ICP inflation happens for rewarding node providers and governance participants while deflation happens when ICP is burnt for computation or for transaction/proposal submission fees.

With that concept under our belt let's dive deeper into understanding the ICP token supply. Understanding the supply of a token is important to many people in the crypto community.

The ''total supply'' of ICP is variable, with both minting (inflationary) and burning (deflationary) mechanisms. The ''circulating supply'' of ICP is also variable, and in addition to being affected by minting and burning, it's also affected by the unlocking of neurons from early contributors (e.g., neurons of seed round donors are on a multi-year unlocking schedule).

==Background: the design intent==

The design intent of the tokenomics of the IC is to create a self-sustaining ecosystem that can balance the following goals and constraints:
* Developers pay very low storage and compute costs.
* Node provider rewards are high enough to incentivize node providers to be part of the network.
* Voting rewards are high enough to encourage staking and governance participation (but not too high).

Since this is a dynamic system, it is up to the community to keep an eye on the system and adjust its levers accordingly, evolving and optimizing the IC's tokenomics via NNS proposals.

==Definitions==

===Total supply===

Total supply is the sum of all tokens currently in the system (whether they are locked/staked or not).

The total supply changes over time due to inflation and deflation. Its current value can be seen on the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation IC Circulation page] of the IC dashboard.

===Circulating supply===

The circulating supply is the difference between the total supply and the non-circulating supply.
The non-circulating supply is the sum of all funds in accounts and neurons controlled by the DFINITY Foundation, plus the funds in the seed-round and ECT neurons. The seed-round and ECT neurons are on vesting schedules with more neurons potentially entering the ''dissolved'' state every month. Regardless of the actions of the seed-round and ECT neuron controllers (for example, they may decide to increase the dissolve delay or stop dissolving), the funds that could theoretically be disbursed based on the vesting schedule enter the circulating supply. At the end of the vesting schedule, all seed-round and ECT funds will be part of the circulating supply.

The current circulating supply can be seen on the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation IC Circulation page] of the IC dashboard.

===Staked ICP===

Staked ICP supply is the sum of all the tokens that are locked or dissolving in neurons at any given time that are earning rewards. At this time, there is a minimum lockup period of 6 months to accrue voting rewards.

The total amount of staked ICP changes over time. Its current value can be seen on the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/neurons Neurons page] of the IC dashboard.

==Numbers==

===At network Genesis===

May 10, 2021:
* Total supply: 469 million
* Circulating supply: 123 million

===Current status===
As of August 22, 2022:
* Total supply: 488 million ICP
* Circulating supply: 255 million (43.5% of total supply)
* Staked ICP: 275 million (52.3% of total supply).
** 78.9% of ICP staked is staked with more than a 1-year dissolve delay
** 44.7% of ICP staked is staked for an 8-year dissolve
** One can see the breakdown of staked ICP by dissolve delays in [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/neurons IC neuron dashboard].

* As outlined in the section above Circulating supply represents ICP that was ever liquid. A subset of the circulating supply is locked in neurons as staked ICP.

==Inflationary mechanisms==

The NNS mints ICP tokens for two reasons:
* For voting rewards (Governance).
* For node provider rewards.

The amount of ICP minted since Genesis can be seen in the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation "Total Rewards" chart] on the IC dashboard.

===Paying staking rewards===

Voting rewards are generated by minting ICP, although this minting only happens at the moment rewards are spawned, maturity is merged, or the neuron is disbursed.

The voting rewards rate schedule is designed with the goal that 90% of the token supply is staked in neurons. With this goal in mind, in the first year, the NNS allocates 10% of the total supply to generate voting rewards. Note the term "allocates" rather than "mints", because rewards are not minted (increasing the total supply) until they are spawned, merged, or the neuron is disbursed.

As the network becomes more stable over time, this allocation rate drops quadratically until it reaches 5% by year 8. See chart below from the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation IC Circulation page] on the IC dashboard.:

[[File:NNS minting % by year.png|800px|frameless]]

'''Like all parameters in the NNS, this rate schedule can be changed via NNS proposals.'''

See more in [[Staking, voting and rewards]].

===Node provider rewards===

Node providers are rewarded for running the node machines that power the Internet Computer.

==Deflationary mechanisms==

The NNS burns ICP tokens for three reasons:

* To mint cycles, used to pay for compute and storage.
* For transaction fees.
* For failed NNS proposal fees.

The amount of ICP burned since Genesis can be seen in the [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/circulation "Total ICP Burned" chart] on the IC dashboard.

===Paying for compute and storage===

Dapp and smart contract developers pay computation and storage costs with cycles. Cycles are acquired from the NNS by converting ICP to cycles, which burns the converted ICP.

The cycles costs for IC computation and storage can be seen at [https://smartcontracts.org/docs/developers-guide/computation-and-storage-costs.html Computation and Storage Costs].

===Transaction fees===

Transferring ICP across accounts incurs a transaction fee of 0.0001 ICP, which is burned.

===Failed NNS proposals===

It costs 10 ICP to submit a proposal. If the proposal passes, the 10 ICP is returned to the proposer. If the proposal is rejected, the 10 ICP is burned. Note that this only happens at disbursement or merging of neurons, so accumulated failed proposal fees can persist for a while before finally contributing to deflation.

==Historical factors affecting circulating supply==

The Internet Computer blockchain is a result of several years of unyielding R&D. By Genesis, the DFINITY foundation, a major contributor to the Internet Computer was over 200 full-time members. Over the past several years the foundation raised financing in three main rounds and also allocated ICP tokens to the community in the form of an airdrop event.

For a breakdown of the different rounds and vesting schedules, see Messari's report [https://messari.io/article/an-introduction-to-dfinity-and-the-internet-computer?referrer=asset:internet-computer "Introduction to ICP"]. The unlocking of neurons has been the '''largest contributing factor''' to circulating supply since Genesis, so it's important to understand the context.

1. '''Seed Round, Feb-2017:''' This round was advertised by a tweet and open to the public by downloading a web extension. DFINITY raised CHF3.9 million (US$3.9 million) from 370 participants, at a valuation of $16 million, or a price of $0.03 per token. It held a portion of these funds in ETH and BTC during the 2017 crypto bull run. Seed round participants received all of their tokens at genesis but are staked inside 49 neurons. Each neuron has a different dissolve delay counting from 0 to 49 months. So this is practically equivalent to a 49-month "vesting schedule" see [https://medium.com/dfinity/how-to-access-seed-and-airdrop-icp-tokens-and-participate-in-the-internet-computer-network-e6cd663a0c3c How to Access ‘Seed’ and ‘Airdrop’ ICP Tokens and Participate in the Internet Computer Network].

2. '''Strategic Round, Jan-2018:''' DFINITY raised $20.54 million for 7.00% of the initial supply (the number has been revised from the previously cited 6.84%). This allocation will vest monthly over three years starting from mainnet launch (May 2021). Participants include Polychain Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, CoinFund, Multicoin Capital, and Greycroft Partners. This round marks the first token a16z invested in. Polychain and DFINITY later collaborated to create the "DFINITY Ecosystem Venture Fund" (later renamed [https://dfinity.org/ecosystem/fund/ "Beacon Fund"]) of an undisclosed size. The goal is to fund new projects that would grow the IC's application ecosystem. The media reported that DFINITY raised a much larger amount of $61 million.

3. '''Private Sale, Aug-2018:''' 110 participants contributed $97 million for 4.96% of the initial supply, sold at 4 CHF (around $4 at the time) per ICP token. This number has been revised from 4.75% previously reported. This allocation came with a monthly vesting schedule of one year from mainnet launch. Vesting began one month after the initial token distribution event on May 10, 2021. Participants in this round include Andreessen Horowitz, Polychain Capital, SV Angel, Aspect Ventures, Electric Capital, ZeroEx, Scalar Capital, and Multicoin Capital.

4. '''Airdrop, May-2018:''' $35 million worth of ICP tokens (formerly DFN), or 0.80% of the initial supply, was airdropped to early supporters by being part of their mailing list, forums, and community. At this time, valuations reached $1.89 billion. Airdrop participants received the IOU version of their ICP tokens in September 2020. This allocation came with a monthly distribution schedule of one year from mainnet launch, which began on May 10, 2021.

==Conclusion==

'''Ultimately, the NNS is controlled by the community so it can vote to change any of the parameters. The parameters and mechanisms described are the current ones.'''

The ICP token has a Total Supply of 488.3MM, Circulating Supply of 255.4MM as of August 22, 2022. 275MM ICP (52.3% of total supply) is staked by token holders in the form of neurons with over 78.9% locked for over 1 year.

The number of tokens is constantly changing. The rewards paid out to the node providers and governance participants contribute to the inflation in token supply while factors like compute/storage fees and transaction fees cause deflation in the total supply.

SNS Tokenization Considerations

2022-07-25T13:30:25Z

Klangham:

Tokenizing an application via the SNS requires planning and consideration for optimizing its effectiveness. The following steps can be used by a developer or founder to better prepare for the launch of a token.

=== Step 1: Identify The Tokenization Goal ===
The first step of a tokenization strategy is identifying the goal of launching a token. The act of tokenizing an application is an intentional decision by a developer or founder to sacrifice ownership and control over their application. The tokenization goal should provide justification for that sacrifice. Application owners will choose to tokenize for many different reasons, including:
* To raise funds for further development or growth
* To attract additional developers to the application
* To increase the user base of the application
* To align the company to a specific mission
* To serve as a utility token within the application

Tokenomic decisions will present many trade-offs and it is difficult to optimize to multiple goals. Identifying the main goal of launching a token will help the developer or founder in further steps.

=== Step 2: Identify and Plan the Token Audience ===
Once a tokenomic goal is identified, identifying the target audience for owning the token is next. Think through the type of person or entity who would best achieve the identified goal from step 1. Consider whether the intended audience should have a skill set, a specific resource or contain certain knowledge that will align with the goal of tokenization. Consider also the intended breadth of the token ownership, including whether the strategic goal is more achievable with few token holders or with thousands or millions of holders.

Next, plan a communication strategy for how your target audience will become informed about the token. How will they know about the token launch?
Consider what their goals will be in owning the token and craft the communications to highlight them. Understanding the goals of your intended audience and the best methods to communicate with them is necessary planning to have a successful token launch.

=== Step 3: Determine Level of Ownership and Control ===
The act of tokenizing an application is an act of giving some percentage of ownership and control over the application. The founder or developer should consider how much ownership and control to give up. This decision will directly impact the initial token distribution. Some considerations that should factor into this decision include:
* How aligned are the initial token holders to the core mission of the application?
* Is there a limit in scope of control that the token holders should have?
* What is the optimal long term ownership and control structure for the application?
* Who will make future contributions to the application's code base?

The more control and ownership a token is provided, the more valuable that token will be. However, more ownership and control provided to the initial token distribution also leads to increased risks to the application's mission, development and engagement.

=== Step 4: Design the Tokenomic Inflation ===
Most tokens have an established token inflation rate and the SNS allows the token designers to set the initial inflation rate, the final inflation rate and the time to achieve that final inflation rate. The configuration of these parameters should be used to drive intended behavior by the token holders. Some considerations include:
* Higher inflation rates will encourage more staking of the token. This is advantageous if the intended purpose of the token is governance over the application. It's disadvantageous if the intended purpose of the token is utility within the application.
* If the purpose of the token is utility within the application or to reward user growth of the application, set the inflation rate to mimic the projected growth trajectory of the application. Periods of higher growth rates for the application should have higher inflation rates to ensure the application ecosystem operates efficiently.
* Higher inflation rates pose more risks to the token value and sustainability of the token.
* Remember that the token holders will be able to adjust the inflation parameters later on.

=== Step 5: Design the Staking Parameters ===
The SNS allows the application's developer to set a dissolve delay bonus and age bonus for staked tokens. For both of these configurations, setting higher parameter values will result in more long-term staking. This is valuable if the purpose of the token is primarily for governance of the application and the expected lifetime of the application is many years or decades. The downside of configuring higher dissolve delay and age bonuses is that it could result in more tokens locked long term, which may impact the ecosystem if the token is used for utility or other rewards.

The launch of a token for an application is not just a technical challenge. It requires an overall strategy, including a clear goal and communication strategy.

SNS Tokenization Considerations

2022-07-21T14:13:46Z

Klangham:

Tokenizing an application via the SNS requires planning and consideration for optimizing its effectiveness. The following steps can be used by a developer or founder to better prepare for the launch of a token.

=== Step 1: Identify The Tokenization Goal ===
The first step of a tokenization strategy is identifying the goal of launching a token. The act of tokenizing an application is an intentional decision by a developer or founder to sacrifice ownership and/or control over their application. The tokenization goal should provide justification for that sacrifice. Application owners will choose to tokenize for many different reasons, including:
* To raise funds for further development or growth
* To attract additional developers to the application
* To increase the user base of the application
* To align the company to a specific mission
* To serve as a utility token within the application

Tokenomic decisions will present many trade-offs and it is difficult to optimize to multiple goals. Identifying the main goal of launching a token will help the developer or founder in further steps.

=== Step 2: Identify and Plan the Token Audience ===
Once a tokenomic goal is identified, identifying the target audience for owning the token is next. Think through the type of person or entity who would best achieve the identified goal from step 1. Consider whether the intended audience should have a skill set, a specific resource or contain certain knowledge that will align with the goal of tokenization . Consider also the intended breadth of the token ownership, including whether the strategic goal is more achievable with few token holders or with thousands or millions of holders.

Next, plan a communication strategy for how your target audience will become informed about the token. How will they know about the token launch? Consider what their goals will be in owning the token and craft the communications to highlight them. Understanding the goals of your intended audience and the best methods to communicate with them is necessary planning to having a successful token launch.

=== Step 3: Determine Level of Ownership and Control ===
The act of tokenizing an application is an act of giving some percentage of ownership and control over the application. The founder or developer should consider how much ownership and control to give up. This decision will directly impact the initial token distribution. Some considerations that should factor into this decision include:
* How aligned are the initial token holders to the core mission of the application?
* Is there a limit in scope of control that the token holders should have?
* What is the optimal long term ownership and control structure for the application?

The more control and ownership a token is provided, the more valuable that token will be. However, more ownership and control provided to the initial token distribution also leads to increased risks to the application's mission and engagement.

=== Step 4: Design the Tokenomic Inflation ===
Most tokens have an established token inflation rate and the SNS allows the token designers to set the initial inflation rate, the final inflation rate and the time to achieve that final inflation rate. The configuration of these parameters should be used to drive intended behavior by the token holders. Some considerations include:
* Higher inflation rates will encourage more staking of the token. This is advantageous if the intended purpose of the token is governance over the application. It's disadvantageous if the intended purpose of the token is utility within the application.
* If the purpose of the token is utility within the application or to reward user growth of the application, set the inflation rate to mimic the projected growth trajectory of the application. Periods of higher growth rates for the application should have higher inflation rates to ensure the application ecosystem operates efficiently.
* Higher inflation rates pose more risks to the token value and sustainability of the token.

=== Step 5: Design the Staking Parameters ===
The SNS allows the application's developer to set a dissolve delay bonus and age bonus for staked tokens. For both of these configurations, setting higher parameter values will result in more long-term staking. This is valuable if the purpose of the token is primarily for governance of the application and the expected lifetime of the application is many years or decades. The downside of configuring higher dissolve delay and age bonuses is that it could result in more tokens locked long term, which may impact the ecosystem if the token is used for utility or other rewards.

SNS Tokenization Considerations

2022-07-20T21:29:48Z

Klangham: Created page with "Tokenizing an application via the SNS requires planning and consideration for optimizing its effectiveness. The following steps can be used by a developer or founder to bette..."

Internet Computer wiki

2022-07-20T17:46:45Z

Klangham:

==Welcome!==

This is a general source of information about the '''Internet Computer (IC)''', the world's fastest and most powerful blockchain network<ref>https://medium.com/dfinity/the-internet-computers-transaction-speed-and-finality-outpace-other-l1-blockchains-8e7d25e4b2ef</ref>. Created for and by the IC community, topics vary from cryptography, network governance, user experience, tokenomics, developer tutorials and more.

==Introduction to the Internet Computer==
The Internet computer is the fastest and most scalable general-purpose blockchain. It was launched as an open source project by [https://dfinity.org/ DFINITY] in May 2021 with the aim of realising a blockchain singularity through hosting dapps, content, and performing computation for billions of users. In building the Internet Computer there have been a number of notable technological developments in cryptography ([https://medium.com/dfinity/chain-key-technology-one-public-key-for-the-internet-computer-6a3644901e28 chain-key cryptography]), programming languages such as [https://wiki.internetcomputer.org/wiki/Motoko Motoko] and others.

===Most common place to start===
* [https://dfinity.org/icig.pdf Internet Computer: Infographic]

* [[Glossary]]

===For a general audience===
* [[Internet Computer overview]]
* [[Internet Computer vision]]
* [https://dfinity.org/roadmap/ Internet Computer roadmap]

===For a more technical audience===
* [https://eprint.iacr.org/2022/087 "Internet Computer for Geeks" paper]
* The [https://dfinity.org/howitworks "How it works" series] with videos and in-depth articles on various topics.
* [https://www.reddit.com/r/dfinity/comments/ozboyi/megathread_technical_amas/ Technical AMAs on Reddit by different IC and DFINITY teams]

== Internet Identity Introduction ==
One of the core benefits of building on the Internet Computer is that end users do not need to pay fees or use tokens to access and use dapps. As an alternative to authenticating from a wallet, users can authenticate with an Internet Identity. Learn more information about Internet Identity (II), a blockchain authentication framework supported by the Internet Computer:

* [[What is Internet Identity]]
* [[How to create an Internet Identity]]
* [[Internet Identity technical overview]]
* [https://identity.ic0.app/ Internet Identity dapp]

==IC for Dapp Users ==

If you use or are interested in using dapps on the Internet Computer, this section will help you understand the user experience benefits of the IC, how to use Internet Identity, or find more IC dapps.

Examples:
* [[Introduction to the Internet Computer for dapp users]]
* [[Index of dapps on the Internet Computer]]

See more in [[Internet Computer for dapp users]]

== IC for ICP Token-holders, Stakers, and Neuron Holders==

The Internet Computer is governed by on-chain governance system called the Network Nervous System (NNS). To participate on governance, users need to stake ICP tokens. This section will explain how the NNS works, ICP tokens, staking, voting, rewards, and options for managing one's ICP.

Examples:
* [[ICP token]]
* [[Tutorials for acquiring, managing, and staking ICP]]
* [[Staking, voting and rewards]]
* [[Governance of the Internet Computer]]
* [[Network Nervous System]]
* [[Total supply, circulating supply, and staked_ICP]]

See more in [[Internet Computer token-holders, investors, and neuron holders]].

== IC for Smart Contract and Dapp Developers ==

The Internet Computer (IC) is a new platform for executing smart contracts. This section contains information for developers, including links to documentation, developer forums, and relevant dashboards.

Examples:
* [[Canisters (dapps/smart contracts)]]
* [https://smartcontracts.org/ Developer documentation on smartcontract.org]
* [https://forum.dfinity.org/ IC community developer forum]


* [[Bitcoin integration]]
* [[SNS Tokenization Considerations]]

If you've been programming smart contracts on Ethereum before, you should read [[The Internet Computer for Ethereum Developers]].

See more in [[Internet Computer for smart contract and dapp developers]].

== IC for the Curious, Researchers and Blockchain Enthusiasts ==

This section is for those interested in how the Internet Computer works under the hood. It touches many different subject areas from cryptography, consensus protocols, virtual machines, operating systems, networking, distributed systems, etc.

Examples:
* [https://dfinity.org/howitworks/ How the Internet Computer Works]
* [https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/ Internet Computer dashboard]
* [[Internet Computer performance]]
* [[DFINITY Foundation]]
* [[Bitcoin integration]]
* [[Third-party security audits]]

See more in [[Internet Computer for researchers and blockchain enthusiasts]].

== For Node Providers ==
Node providers invest in and operate node hardware, which powers the Internet Computer with processing and storage capacity. Running these nodes in data centers provides the high performance and the cost-effectiveness of the Internet Computer. Every node provider is allowed a limited amount of nodes.
* [[Node Provider Onboarding]]
* [[IC OS Installation Runbook - Dell Poweredge]]
* [[IC OS Installation Runbook - Supermicro]]
* [[Storage Runbook]]
* [[Node rewards]]

== Technical Working Groups ==
* [[Identity & Authentication]]
* [[Developer Tooling]]
* [[Ledger & Tokenization]]
* [[Scalability & Performance]]

== FAQs, Tutorials, and How-tos==
Tutorials are guided introductions to user stories, intended for first-time users and characterized by a shallow learning curve. How-Tos are step-by-step instructions for specific, narrow goals.

===FAQs===
* [[FAQ]]

===Best Practices===
Example:
* [[Managing ICP holdings]]
* [[Managing Internet Identity]]
* [[Maximizing Voting and NNS Rewards]]
See more in [[Best Practices]]

=== Tutorials ===
Example:
* [[Tutorials for acquiring, managing, and staking ICP]]
* [[How-To: Claim neurons for seed participants]]
* [[How-To: Create an NNS motion proposal]]
* [[How-To: Set your neuron to follow another neuron]]

See more in [[How-Tos]].

==Contributing to the Wiki==

=== How to contribute ===
Anyone can read the wiki. You can also edit pages, all you need to do is [https://wiki.internetcomputer.org/wiki/Special:CreateAccount create an account]. See more in [[Contributing to the wiki]].

==References==