Cardano Supply Summary

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Loaded 405 epochs. Adjust the slider to filter the range.

Contents

• Reserves Evolution
• Distributed Rewards
• Treasury Evolution
• Deposits

The Cardano reserves represent the difference between the maximum supply (45 billion ada) and the total supply in circulation. Reserves were originally defined in the genesis block and are gradually released through the reward mechanism, where a portion of each epoch's rewards comes from the reserves.

Over time, reserves decrease as ada is distributed to stakeholders through staking rewards. This chart shows how the reserves have evolved (degraded) across the selected epoch range.

Distributed rewards are composed of two sources: ada taken from the reserves and transaction fees paid by users. These rewards are distributed to various participants in the Cardano ecosystem.

The reward distribution includes:

• a) Staking rewards to users who delegate their ada
• b) Margin and fixed fees to Stake Pool Operators (SPOs) for operating the network infrastructure
• c) A taxation portion that goes to the common treasury to support ecosystem development

Note: Detailed breakdown of rewards distribution to users, SPOs, and treasury requires additional data queries.

The Cardano treasury grows from the taxation portion of each epoch's reward distribution. This cut ensures ongoing funding for ecosystem development, research, and community initiatives.

The treasury can also shrink when treasury withdrawals are enacted through governance actions. These withdrawals fund approved proposals and initiatives that benefit the Cardano ecosystem.

Cardano requires various types of deposits to ensure network security and governance participation. Users register their wallets with a staking key deposit (currently 2 ada per key), Stake Pool Operators register pools with a 500 ada deposit, and DReps must also place a deposit to participate in governance.

Additionally, governance action deposits (currently 100,000 ada per action) are required when submitting governance proposals. Deposits are also returned when the GA expires. At no point are GA deposits lost. The proposer always receives them back after the action expires or enacts.

Stake pool pledge is a separate mechanism where pool operators commit their own ada to their pools. For detailed information about pledge, see the dedicated pledge page (coming soon).