The total supply of a digital asset is a fundamental metric representing the total quantity of that asset in circulation. The Supply by Age metric further categorizes this total supply into different age cohorts, offering a detailed view of the distribution of the total supply across varying holding periods for these assets, from hot supply (recently moved coins) to cold supply (older, dormant coins). This metric is particularly useful for understanding the age distribution of the total supply, which can provide insights into the maturity and stability of a digital asset's market. For example, it can help answer questions like, 'Is the majority of the total supply held in older coins, indicating a mature market, or in newer coins, indicating a growing market?'

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 Supply 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.