Ethereum’s Supply Has Grown by Over 1 Million ETH Since the Merge

Ethereum’s circulating supply has increased by 1,009,682.84 ETH since the Merge, bringing the total to approximately 121.53 million ETH, with an annualised inflation rate of 0.24%, according to ultrasound.money data updated on March 15, 2026.

What the Numbers Show

The dashboard breaks the supply change into two components. Since the Merge, 3,013,633.69 ETH has been issued as staking rewards to validators securing the network. Against that, 2,003,950.85 ETH has been burned through EIP-1559, the fee burning mechanism introduced in August 2021. The difference between those two figures produces the net supply increase of just over 1 million ETH across 3 years and 181 days.

The supply chart on the left panel shows the trajectory clearly. After the Merge, the line initially declined as burning outpaced issuance during periods of high network activity. That deflationary phase reversed as network activity cooled, and the supply line has been climbing modestly since, now running at a 0.24% annual rate.

Why This Matters for the Deflation Narrative

The Merge was widely anticipated as the moment Ethereum would become structurally deflationary, with the shift from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake dramatically reducing new issuance while the burn mechanism continued removing supply from circulation. For a period it worked exactly that way. High network fees during the 2024 and 2025 bull run produced burn rates that exceeded issuance, pushing supply negative.

The current 0.24% annualised inflation reflects a different network environment. Lower transaction fees mean less ETH burned per block. Staking issuance continues regardless of fee levels. When burning slows and issuance continues, the net result is modest supply expansion rather than contraction.

For context, 0.24% is still dramatically lower than Ethereum’s pre-Merge inflation rate, which ran between 3% and 4% annually under proof-of-work. It is also lower than Bitcoin’s current post-halving issuance rate of approximately 0.85% annually. On a pure supply inflation comparison, Ethereum is currently less inflationary than Bitcoin.

What Proof-of-Work Would Have Looked Like

The ultrasound.money dashboard includes a PoW simulation toggle that estimates what Ethereum’s supply would be today if the Merge had never happened. Under proof-of-work issuance rates, Ethereum’s supply would be significantly higher than the current 121.53 million ETH, illustrating the scale of supply reduction the Merge delivered even accounting for the modest net inflation since.

The Staking Context

The issuance of 3,013,633.69 ETH in staking rewards since the Merge represents the yield distributed to validators. A portion of that yield is now being retained by the Ethereum Foundation itself through its newly announced 70,000 ETH staking initiative covered earlier this week, and by institutional holders through BlackRock’s staked ETH ETF launched the same week. The yield that previously left large holders’ balance sheets as operational costs is increasingly being captured back through staking rather than through ETH sales.

The 1 million ETH net supply increase since the Merge is the current outcome of a mechanism still finding its equilibrium. If network activity and fees rise in the next expansion phase, burning could again outpace issuance and push supply back into deflationary territory. If activity remains subdued, the 0.24% rate continues. The supply trajectory follows usage, not a fixed schedule.

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