Ethereum News
Ethereum supply dynamics in September 2026
The mechanics of net issuance
Ethereum issues approximately 1,700 ETH every day to validators. This issuance fluctuates based on the total amount of ETH staked. As of April 2026, approximately 36 to 37 million ETH, which represents more than 30% of the total supply, remains in staking contracts. These tokens do not sit on exchanges. The Merge in September 2022 reduced total new ETH issuance by roughly 88% after the network transitioned to proof-of-stake. Before this transition, miners earned approximately 13,000 ETH per day.
The network destroys ETH through the EIP-1559 base fee burn.
A gas price of at least 16 gwei offsets the 1,700 ETH issued to validators. If the average gas price stays below this level, net issuance turns positive. The Dencun upgrade in March 2024 introduced blobs that allow Layer 2 networks to post data cheaply, which causes the mainnet burn rate to fall when activity moves to secondary chains. Fees fell. In the first quarter of 2025, the daily burn rate dropped to as low as 50 to 70 ETH.
Deflationary periods and current inflation
The total ETH supply reached 122.04 million on September 12, 2026. This figure is a 1.11% increase from the 120.70 million ETH in circulation one year ago.
Ethereum experienced a period of net deflation for eighteen months following the Merge. During this stretch from September 2022 to March 2024, the total supply fell by more than 450,000 ETH. The burn rate consistently outpaced the daily issuance of approximately 1,700 ETH.
The current inflationary regime stems from lower mainnet fees.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Daily Issuance | ~1,700 ETH |
| Deflation Threshold | 16 gwei |
| Staked Supply | ~36.8 million ETH |
| Annual Inflation | ~0.23% |
The supply grew.
The Dencun upgrade made transaction fees on Layer 2 networks fall by 90% to 98% practically overnight. This massive migration to cheaper layers reduced the amount of ETH destroyed during high-volume periods. Before Dencun, Layer 2 data storage on the main chain accounted for roughly 95% of gas fees on some rollup transactions. In March 2026, Gnosis, MetaMask, and Uniswap topped the weekly burn charts by burning approximately 2,277 ETH. This activity shows how DeFi activity still drives mainnet consumption.
Attempts to stabilize the burn
The Fusaka upgrade in December 2025 introduced EIP-7918, which aims to stabilize the burn rate by setting a price floor for blobs. This update establishes a minimum price floor for all blob transactions. Rollups must pay a fee proportional to the execution base fee.
This mechanism prevents the daily burn from falling to the 50 to 70 ETH levels seen in early 2025.
The Ethereum development community manages the tension between scalability and scarcity. Lowering transaction costs for users reduces the amount of ETH destroyed on the mainnet. The network scales by using L2 solutions, but these solutions decrease the mainnet burn rate.
The total amount of ETH staked reached 36.8 million as of April 2026. This level of staking reduces the liquid float available for trading. In March 2026, the Ethereum Foundation deposited 22,517 ETH into the Beacon Chain. This single event reduced the circulating supply.
The Pectra upgrade in May 2025 increased the maximum effective balance for validators to 2,048 ETH. This change allowed for consolidation of positions. Despite a decrease of 16,000 active validators after the upgrade, total staked ETH rose to 36.8 million.
Can the network maintain scarcity as more activity moves to Layer 2?
