How many cryptocurrencies have low circulation? How many cryptocurrencies have fully diluted market cap?

Author: Lim Yu Qian, Coingecko; Compiler: Deng Tong, Golden Finance

How many low-circulation cryptocurrencies are there?

Low-circulation cryptocurrencies account for 21.3% of the top 300 cryptocurrencies by market cap. This means that 1 in 5 cryptocurrencies has a majority of its token supply yet to be unlocked, resulting in a market cap to fully diluted valuation (FDV) ratio of less than 0.5.

Among the crypto markets, the 4 cryptocurrencies with the lowest circulation are Worldcoin (WLD), which has a market cap to FDV ratio of 0.02, followed by Cheelee (CHEEL) at 0.06, Starknet (STRK) at 0.07, and Saga (SAGA) at 0.09. All 4 of the cryptocurrencies with the lowest circulation were launched in 2023 or 2024.

Most of the low-circulation cryptocurrencies are relatively new to the market: 54 of the 64 low-circulation cryptocurrencies were launched in the past four years (12 in 2021, 13 in 2022, 17 in 2023, and 12 in 2024 so far). In addition to projects launching more tokens, excess supply from upcoming token unlocks is expected to continue to weigh on crypto markets.

How many cryptocurrencies have fully diluted market caps?

Of the top 300 cryptocurrencies, 74 have a market cap to FDV ratio of 1. In other words, only 24.7% of cryptocurrencies are fully diluted and have no upcoming token unlocks.

Compared to low-volume cryptocurrencies, less than half the number of cryptocurrencies, or just 28, were launched in the past four years. The majority of the 74 projects — 46 — were launched between 2014 and 2020.

Notably, 14 of the 74 fully diluted cryptocurrencies are memecoins. Memecoin also accounts for the majority of fully diluted cryptocurrencies launched in 2023 and 2024, such as Pepe (PEPE) and Dogwifhat (WIF). This reflects that the recent investor favorability towards memecoins is becoming an ongoing or regular rotation narrative in the crypto market.

54% of Cryptocurrencies Are High Circulation Cryptocurrencies

High circulation cryptocurrencies account for 162 of the top 300 cryptocurrencies, which means that 54.0% of cryptocurrencies have unlocked more than half of their token supply.

In particular, 28.7% of cryptocurrencies are almost fully diluted, with a market cap to FDV ratio of 0.80 or higher. This mainly includes older cryptocurrencies such as Maker (MKR), which has a market cap to FDV ratio of 0.95, Aave (AAVE) at 0.93, and Near Protocol (NEAR) at 0.90.

Overall, the average market cap to FDV ratio for the top 300 cryptocurrencies is 0.73.

Cryptocurrencies with high and low circulation

As of 2024, the percentage of fully diluted market capitalization, high circulation, and low circulation cryptocurrencies among the top 300 cryptocurrencies is as follows: