Realized Capitalization (Realized Cap) is a key metric that calculates the total value of a digital asset based on the price at the time each unit last moved. In other words, it reflects the total acquisition cost of all coins in circulation. The Realized Cap by Age metric provides an additional layer of detail by categorizing digital assets into different age cohorts, offering a comprehensive view of the acquisition cost of supply portions of varying ages. This metric is particularly useful for understanding the distribution of network wealth across different age cohorts, from hot supply (coins that recently moved) to cold supply (older, dormant coins). For example, it can help answer questions like, 'Is the majority of the acquisition cost concentrated in older or newer coins?'

Note: The breakdown metrics utilize an address-based approach, analyzing transactions and holdings based on individual wallet addresses to facilitate comparability across digital assets and to ensure consistent analysis across various blockchain architectures. This contrasts with the alternative UTXO-based approach for chains like Bitcoin, where unspent transaction outputs are analyzed to categorize asset properties. As such, metrics for UTXO-based assets may show slight deviations if compared across these different computational methods.

This is the Point-in-Time (PiT) variant of Realized Cap by Age. PiT metrics are strictly append-only and their history is immutable. The historic data does not necessarily reflect the best current knowledge, but the information at the time when a data point was first computed. PiT metrics are ideal candidates for applications in model backtesting and related quantitative purposes. Read our article on PiT metrics for more information.