The circulating supply of the altcoin king, Ethereum (ETH) 
$2,074, has reached its highest level since January 2023. This increase matches the supply levels seen during the significant update known as The Merge, which took place on September 15, 2022. As of now, the supply of ETH has hit 120.5 million, which is 383 more than the day of The Merge. Astaria CEO Justin Bram announced this development via social media.
Impact of the Dencun Update on Ethereum’s Supply
Presto Research analyst Jaehyun Ha highlighted that the rise in Ethereum’s supply is linked to the Dencun update. For those unfamiliar, this update altered transaction fees on the Ethereum network. Previously, a significant portion of fees was burned during transactions, but the introduction of blob transactions under Dencun allows for a separate fee unit called “blob gas” to efficiently carry large data loads.
This new fee structure resulted in less ETH being burned on the Ethereum network. Ha commented, “Despite the increased transaction volume, this change weakened the balancing effect on supply limitations.” He further warned that the rise in ETH supply could threaten its status as “ultrasound money” in the long run.
Recent Changes in the Ethereum Network
In a notable move, Ethereum raised its gas limit for the first time since 2021, increasing the block gas unit limit to 31 million. This alteration aims to enhance the scalability of the Ethereum network.
Additionally, the Ethereum Foundation is currently in the spotlight due to discussions about leadership changes. In a recent informal vote, the proposal to appoint former Ethereum researcher Danny Ryan as leader was made, but co-founder Vitalik Buterin rejected this request, leading some developers to leave the Ethereum community.
Meanwhile, ETH’s price saw a 1% increase in the last 24 hours, rising to $2,744, although it has dropped over 12% in the past week.
