Understand the issuance price and total issuance of Monero in one article

Monero's innovative emission model fosters fair distribution, incentivizes miners, and ensures long-term price stability while gradually approaching an estimated total supply of 18.4 million XMR.

Oct 04, 2024 at 05:06 am

Understanding Monero's Issuance Price and Total Supply

1. Monero's Issuance Price:

Monero did not conduct an initial public offering (ICO) or pre-mine. Instead, it adopted a gradual emission model, where new XMR tokens are created with each block mined. This ensures a fair distribution of Monero.

2. Total Issuance and Tail Emission:

Monero's total issuance is not fixed but is governed by a tail emission model. This model dictates that:

• New XMR tokens are created with each block mined.
• The block reward gradually decreases over time.
• The emission rate never reaches zero, but asymptotically approaches it.

3. Projected Total Supply:

Based on the tail emission model, it is estimated that the total supply of Monero will be around 18.4 million XMR. This is not a hard cap, and the actual supply may fluctuate slightly due to changes in network parameters or algorithm improvements.

4. Significance of the Tail Emission:

The tail emission serves several purposes:

• Preventing inflation: By gradually reducing the block reward, it ensures that Monero's value remains relatively stable over the long term.
• Rewarding miners: Even after all XMR tokens have been mined, miners will continue to receive a small block reward, incentivizing them to maintain the network.
• Decentralization: The tail emission model encourages a wide distribution of XMR, fostering decentralization and preventing hoarding.

5. Current Block Reward:

As of August 2023, the block reward for mining a Monero block is approximately 0.3 XMR per minute. This translates to an annual emission rate of around 4.3 million XMR.