The Supply Transparency Report brings visibility to the actions of the key categories of a cryptoasset’s holders that are deemed to restrict supply from the market, as defined in the CMBI Float Adjustment Methodology. The current universe of cryptoassets that are covered in this report is reflective of those that Coin Metrics administers Free Float Supply values for, which includes: 0x, Aave, Balancer, Basic Attention Token, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Gold, Bitcoin SV, Cardano, Chainlink, Compound, Crypto.com Coin, Curve, DASH, Decred, Digibyte, Dogecoin, Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, FTX Token, Huobi Token, Litecoin, MakerDAO, NEO, Stellar, Tezos, Uniswap, XRP, Yearn and Zcash.
Note, for all of the monthly and quarterly U.S. Dollar values herein, an approximate aggregate quarterly value has been calculated by taking the net supply added or removed each day and multiplying it by that specific date’s Coin Metrics End of Day (00:00 UTC) Reference Rate.
The additional net value added to cryptoasset markets through Q1 2021 was $9.80B, almost doubling from the previous quarter (up 93% from $5.07B) and up over 5x from Q3 2020 ($1.57B). The most significant reasons for this material increase are:
- The increase in value of most cryptoassets over the last 6 months. For example, Bitcoin’s price almost quintupled during Q4, meaning that the value of new supply (Bitcoin mined daily) increases by a factor of five. Similarly, other assets experienced significant price increases over the last 6 months, with Cardano up over 800% and Dogecoin up over 1500%.
- Significant increases in the quarterly change in free float supply (native units) of Dogecoin (396%) and Cardano (305%).
The combination of price increases and new free float added to markets resulted in the largest contributors to the increase in Q1 2021 free float supply value being Bitcoin ($3.36B), Cardano ($1.62B), Ethereum ($1.54B), XRP ($1.03B) and Chainlink ($451M).
The cryptoassets with the highest free float annual inflation rate (denominated in native units) over the last year were Crypto.com Coin (63%), FTX Coin (48%), Zcash (31%) and XRP (24%). Over the same period, Huobi Token (-18%), Compound (0.7%) and Bitcoin (1.9%) had the lowest annual inflation rate.
Note: In February 2021, Crypto.com conducted a one off burn of 59.6M CRO from a Foundation controlled address
Foundation Addresses
The net value of cryptoassets that moved outside of identified Foundation/Company controlled addresses was $17.2B, during Q1 2021. However, $13.3B of this was from the Crypto.com foundation burning Foundation assets by sending them to an unrecoverable address that now holds over 68% of the total supply. The remaining $3.9B that transacted from Foundation controlled addresses represents an increase of 185% (or $2.5B) from the previous quarter. The primary source of the increase this quarter can almost solely be attributed to the three Cardano Foundations, whose addresses added $1.6B of ADA to the free float supply, a significant increase from the $15M they added each of the previous two quarters. Crypto.com also contributed to the increase, adding ~$900M of supply from foundation controlled addresses to more liquid markets (not included in the aforementioned burn).
Note: Company/Foundation asset sales can be conducted for many reasons, including but not limited to operating expenses, team member/advisor vesting, strategic long term partnership/BD, scheduled and unscheduled token burns, strategic investments and treasury management. Companies/Foundations may also behave differently, either choosing to issue large volumes infrequently or issue on an as needs basis. Further, movement of assets from Foundation/Company controlled addresses does not necessarily mean assets have been sold (e.g. distribution to team members, burns, strategic placements, community incentive programs, etc).
Note: In February 2021, the Crypto.com Foundation burned $13.3B worth of CRO
Team Addresses
The net value of cryptoassets that moved outside of identified Company Team addresses remained flat during Q1 2021, at $518M. However, there would have been a fairly substantial increase in value flowing out of team addresses were it not for net inflows into Cryto.com team identified addresses which received $868M worth of CRO during the quarter (reminder when considering team address flows, inflows are considered a negative). In this instance, the majority of that flow came from foundation owned addresses.
The team addresses that most increased to the free float supply of their assets during Q1 2021 were:
- XRP – where an additional 1.3B XRP (84% increase from the previous quarter) entered more liquid markets, representing a value of $577M
- Chainlink – where an additional 17.5M LINK (46% increase from the previous quarter) entered more liquid markets, representing a value of $451M
Note: Movement out of Team controlled addresses does not necessarily mean assets have been sold, but rather can be an indication of activity (e.g. movement to passive yield generating tools such as Compound).
Summary of Free Float Changes
0x (ZRX)
During Q1 2021, the total ZRX moved from Foundation owned addresses remained lower again than the one year averages, with a net change of 10M ZRX tokens. Team owned addresses transacted only 2.6M ZRX, which is in line with the quarterly average over the previous year. As was the case in Q4 of 2020 though, these values were down from Q2 and Q3 of 2020 where both foundation and team addresses leveraged their ZRX balances to opportunistically leverage DeFi opportunities, such as collateral posting and yield farming.
The net impact of Foundation and Team ZRX transactions was an increase to the Free Float Supply of 12.6M ZRX, a 66% increase from the previous quarter but still only ~25% of Q2 and Q3 last year.
Aave (AAVE)
Having only launched in Q4 of last year, there is limited free float history for Aave. At the end of Q4, Aave owned addresses still managed almost 4.0M AAVE, just under 3.0M that were belonging to the AAVE DAO and 1.0M that were belonging to holders of LEND that had not migrated. Through Q1, there was a free float increase of 431K AAVE, most of which came from LEND<>AAVE migrations.
Balancer (BAL)
Balancer released 1,885,000 BAL tokens into circulation through their liquidity mining program, mimicking the same numbers from Q4 of 2020. There were also 1.7M BAL moved from foundation controlled addresses during the quarter, representing the largest foundation movement since Balancer launched in Q3 of 2020. With a small accumulation of 124K BAL tokens in team owned addresses, the net change to free float through the first quarter of 2021 was 3.4M.
Basic Attention Token (BAT)
Throughout Q1 2021, the quarterly increase of Basic Attention Token free float was the highest it has been in the last year, with 47.2M new BAT entering circulation (35M in Q2 2020, 38M in Q3 2020, 28M in Q4 2020).
Just over half of the restricted supply that entered the market came from Foundation controlled addresses, the most active being the ‘BAT: UPG Reserve’, which withdrew ~20M BAT through the quarter, sending the majority to Uphold.com tagged addresses. Identified team addresses made up for the remaining increase to free float, with an 20M BAT entering more liquid markets, equalling more supply than the three previous quarters combined.
Bitcoin (BTC)
The new Bitcoin issued from mining activities in Q1 2021 was in line with the previous quarter as will be the case until the next halving in 2024. 83K Bitcoin were mined and added to the free float, however there was also a 5K net increase in dormant BTC (>5yrs without activity) that are likely to belong to strategic long term holders or be lost. This is a reduction from the previous quarter where 69K formant BTC were first) moved on-chain for the first time since 2013.
The net impact of these resulted in a net change to Bitcoin’s Free Float of 78K BTC.
Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
Changes to Bitcoin Cash’s free float was in line with Q4 of 2020. 246K BCH entered free float supply. 80K of which were from mining related activities and the additional 165K were from BCH that were activated for the first time since Bitcoin Cash forked from Bitcoin.
Bitcoin Gold (BTG)
Bitcoin Gold’s free float increased 160K BTG throughout Q1 of 2021, its lowest increase in supply since Q2 of 2020. As Bitcoin Gold is currently on the same issuance schedule as Bitcoin, 81K were added to the free float from mining activities. The additional 79K BTG added to the free float of Bitcoin Gold came from coins that were activated for the first time since the BTG fork.
Bitcoin SV (BSV)
Bitcoin SV’s free float supply increased the most of the Bitcoin versions covered in this report, with 499K BSV added during Q1 2021. The new issuance of Bitcoin SV from mining related activities was in line with other versions, with 80K BSV added during the quarter. However, Bitcoin SV had 419K coins activated for the first time, the largest quarterly increase in activated supply since Q2 of 2019.
Cardano (ADA)
Cardano’s free float increased beyond any historical quarterly increase, with 1.5B ADA added to more liquid addresses during the quarter. This quarterly increase represents 60% of the free float that has been added to Cardano over the last year. As has been the case the last two quarters, there was some increase (200M ADA) in on chain supply which came from Proof of Stake mining activity that has been occurring since the Shelley upgrade.
However, it was Foundation that were the major contributors to the free float increase, with 1.6B ADA leaving Foundation controlled addresses into more liquid ones. Of this, 300M were identified as likely being distributed to Team member controlled addresses.
Chainlink (LINK)
Chainlink’s free float supply increased for the second consecutive quarter, experiencing its largest increase since Q3 2019, with an additional 17.5M LINK added during Q1 of 2021. This represents an increase of 5.5M LINK from the previous quarter. The entirety of the increase in free float supply can be attributed to transactions from team identified addresses.
Compound (COMP)
During Q1, 898K COMP were added to free float supply, three times the amount added to free float in Q4 of 2020 (276K), but less than Q3 (939K). 560K of this came from movement from Foundation controlled addresses to more liquid ones, which includes utilization rewards paid to liquidity providers. The additional 338K COMP were transacted out of Team identified addresses.
Crypto.com Coin (CRO)
During Q1 of 2021, the Crypto.com Foundation conducted a significant burn from the CRO foundation holdings, destroying 60B tokens on Feb 22 by sending them to the 0x000…00dead address. As this came from Foundation controlled addresses, the burn did not impact the free float of CRO, but rather represented a change to the future total maximum supply of CRO as the quarter went on, a further 1.5B CRO was added to the burn address, most of which was from liquid market supply.
Crypto.com team addresses received a total of 6.3B CRO through the quarter, all of which was distributed from Foundation controlled addresses in mid February. This distribution tripled the supply of CRO that can be attributed to Team controlled addresses.
The net impact of all these changes was a reduction in CRO free float supply of 1.3B, its first quarterly decrease since inception.
Curve (CRV)
The free float supply of Curve increased by 130M CRV in Q1 2021, very similar to the rate of token issuance experienced in Q4 2020. Curve is a relatively new protocol that launched in August of 2020 and has a predefined rate of token issuance that is set to continue at a similar pace for the next few quarters.
DASH (DASH)
DASH’s issuance from mining related activities in Q1 was 158K DASH, in line with the previous two quarters which were after the ~6.0% inflation rate adjustment that occurred during Q2 of 2020. During the quarter, there were 23K DASH that were identified as being inactive for over 5 years and as belonging to long term strategic investors or lost supply. The net result of the two aforementioned factors was an increase in DASH’s free float supply of 135K for the quarter.
Decred (DCR)
Only 40K DCR was added to the Free Float Supply during Q1 2021, the lowest quarterly addition to float in the history of Decred. The primary reason for this was the aging of the Decred blockchain, which had its 5th birthday in February, marking the point at which some supply is considered as belonging to long term strategic holders or is lost. Whilst 337K was added through mining related activity, 294K aged over 5 years without a transaction and thus was removed from free float supply.
Digibyte (DGB)
The Free Float Supply of Digibyte increased 293M DGB in Q1, a decrease of 3% from Q4 of 2020. Inflation from Digibyte mining related inflation continues to decrease every quarter, with 279M added this quarter, down from 323M in the same quarter last year. For the third consecutive quarter, the net change to addresses that have been inactive for over 5 years was negative, implying that an additional amount (13.8M) of DGB was added to the free float supply during the quarter.
Dogecoin (DOGE)
Dogecoin had its largest increase in free float supply in the previous year during Q1 of 2021. As price continued to rise after Elon Musk’s open support for the coin, long term and strategic holders sought this opportunity to activate 3.4M DOGE after going over 5 years without being transacted. In addition, 1.2M DOGE were added to the supply of Dogecoin through mining related activities, a very similar number to previous quarters.
Ethereum (ETH)
Ethereum’s free float increased 1.0M ETH in Q1 of 2021, with the vast majority of new supply (1.2M) coming from block subsidies for miners. The 0.2M of ETH that was removed from free float supply came from long term, strategic holders or lost assets that have not been transacted in over 5 years.
Ethereum Classic (ETC)
The free float supply of Ethereum Classic returned to inflation in Q1 of 2021 after falling in Q4 as the blockchain aged and over 5M ETC were identified as inactive during Q4 of 2020. The free float supply increase of 2.0M in Q1 was predominantly from mining related activities for which miners received 1.8M ETC. The remaining 0.2M came from inactive coins becoming active again or users claiming ETC for the first time since the ETH/ETC fork.
FTX Token (FTT)
During Q4, the free float supply of FTX Token fell for the first quarter in its history. Despite continuing to burn tokens quarterly, historically team and foundation tokens have been added to supply each quarter. However, in Q1 2021, no team or foundation FTT were added to more liquid addresses whilst the team continued to burn assets. This resulted in a reduction of the free float supply of FTT by 2.1M during the quarter.
Huobi Token (HT)
Huobi Token continues to be one of the most consistent deflationary assets in the crypto market, recording a reduction in free float supply every quarter of 2020. During Q1, this did not change, with the HT free float supply reducing by 17.2M. This was comprised of:
- Huobi continued to conduct on-chain burns of HT, sending tokens to the 0x000…000 address which received 23.0M HT during the quarter.
- The Huobi Foundation transacting 5.7M HT from foundation owned addresses into more liquid markets.
The activity of the foundation this month represents the largest reduction in Huobi Token free float supply of any of the previous 4 quarters.
Litecoin (LTC)
Litecoin’s free float supply increased 690K LTC during Q1, a slight increase of 20K from the previous quarter, representing a larger quarterly change than any 2020 quarter. Whilst the new supply from mining related activity remained relatively consistent, it was 40K LTC that were reactivated after over 5 years of dormancy that contributed to making this quarterly increase larger than any in 2020. By comparison, in each of Q1, Q2 and Q3 of 2020, the net change to long term/lost LTC was over 100K LTC (more coins became inactive than became active).
MakerDAO (MKR)
The Free Float Supply of MakerDAO decreased by 26K MKR during Q1 2021 after increasing by 115K in the last quarter of 2020. The reason reduction in free float supply was due to an increase of 28K MKR staked in the MakerDAO Governance contract. In addition to this, MakerDAO also experienced a reduction in on chain supply, with 2.0K MKR bought back from DAI generated fees and burned during the quarter.
NEO (NEO)
The NEO free float supply increased by 56.5K in Q1 of 2021, the total balance coming from Foundation owned NEO that were moved to more liquid addresses during the quarter.
Stellar Lumens (XLM)
The Stellar Lumen free float supply increased 746M XLM during Q1 2021, a 50% reduction from the previous quarter where a quarterly record increase to free float supply was experienced. Whilst 845M XLM that belonged to Foundation owned addresses was added to more liquid addresses during the quarter, there was also 99M XLM that has not transacted in over 5 years that was identified as being removed from the Stellar’s free float.
Tezos (XTZ)
The Tezos total on-chain supply increased 14.2M during Q1 2021 as a result of the Baking process and from individuals that continue to claim their allocation from the ICO which was back in 2018. Of this, 2.7M was baked by Tezos Foundation addresses, resulting in a 11.6M XTZ increase to the free float supply throughout the quarter (+14.2M to current supply – 2.7M restricted supply belonging to the foundation).
Uniswap (UNI)
The free float supply of Uniswap increased by 4.2M UNI during Q1 2021. This increase in free float supply came wholly from users still claiming their airdrop from the UNI distribution address for the first time.
XRP (XRP)
The XRP free float supply increased 2.4B during Q1 2021, a 26%, or 1.5B XRP, increase from the previous quarter. The largest contributor of extra liquidity to the market during the quarter was from Ripple Team addresses, which experienced net outflows of 1.3B tokens, up from 700M in the previous quarter or an increase of 4x since Q2 of 2020. Ripple Foundation addresses also experienced a 1.1B net outflow, which is in line with previous quarterly changes to Foundation balances.
Yearn (YFI)
During Q1 of 2021, the on chain supply of Yearn increased 6,666 after an on chain proposal was passed to create a treasury. Of this, 2,036 YFI were moved to team owned addresses and thus were not considered to be adding to the Yearn free float supply. The other 4.6K YFI were initially moved to Foundation controlled addresses before being sent to contracts and vaults such as the MakerDAO contract to mint DAI.
Zcash (ZEC)
Zcash free float supply increased 322K ZEC during Q1 2021, which is the lowest of any historical quarter. After undergoing its first block halving event in November of 2020 this was the first quarter where the full reduction in issuance from mining was visible, resulting in 322K ZEC being mined.
There were no other known changes to the free float supply of Zcash. Note: it is unknown if the foundation/team control assets if they utilize shielded transactions (privacy works!).
Detailed breakdown of Free Float Changes
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