Launching MoonPay Enterprise: Stablecoin APIs for developers → Learn More

Don't invest unless you're prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment and you should not expect to be protected if something goes wrong. Take 2 mins to learn more.

MoonPay
  • Individuals
  • Business
    Get Started
Buy
Buy cryptoUse a card, Apple Pay or Google Pay to buy crypto fast. We also accept bank transfers and wires.
Buy BitcoinBTC
Buy EthereumETH
Buy PolygonPOL
Buy SolanaSOL
Buy DogecoinDOGE
Buy CardanoADA
Buy AvalancheAVAX
Sell
Sell cryptoTurn your crypto into cash. In a flash. Get paid straight to your bank account or Visa card.
Sell BitcoinBTC
Sell EthereumETH
Sell USDCUSDC
Sell SolanaSOL
Sell CardanoADA
Sell DogecoinDOGE
Sell AvalancheAVAX
Trade
Trade cryptoTrade between tokens, even if they’re on different chains (we make bridging seamless too).
Trade EthereumETH
Trade USDCUSDC
Trade AaveAAVE
Trade ChainlinkLINK
Trade Wrapped BitcoinWBTC
Trade DaiDAI
Trade CompoundCOMP
Company
NewsroomNewsroomMediaMediaCareersCareersChangelogChangelogMoonPay DiscoverMoonPay DiscoverNew
Crypto Prices
Bitcoin PriceEthereum PriceSolana PriceDogecoin PriceCardano PriceXRP PriceBNB PriceAll Crypto Prices
Learn
What is Blockchain?What is Blockchain?What are NFTs?What are NFTs?What is Bitcoin mining?What is Bitcoin mining?What is DeFi?What is DeFi?What is crypto staking?What is crypto staking?All Learn Articles
Support
DocumentationDocumentationHelp CenterHelp CenterContact UsContact UsStatusStatus

MoonPay (UK) Limited is a company registered in England and Wales under the company number 12055543. MoonPay (UK) Limited's office address is 20-22 Wenlock Road, London, N1 7GU.
MoonPay (UK) Limited is registered with the Financial Conduct Authority, under FRN 944716 as cryptoasset business, under the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017, as amended (MLRs).

  • Personal
  • Buy Crypto
  • Sell Crypto
  • Trade Crypto
  • Learn about Crypto
  • Crypto Price
  • MoonAgentsNew!
  • Business
  • Ramps
  • Virtual AccountsNew!
  • MoonPay Discover
  • MoonPay Commerce
  • MoonPay InstitutionalNew!
  • Company
  • About Us
  • CareersWe're hiring
  • Newsroom
  • Media
  • Changelog
  • Support
  • API Docs
  • Help Center
  • Contact Us
  • Status
  • Security
  • Buy
  • Buy Bitcoin
  • Buy Ethereum
  • Buy Solana
  • Buy Cardano
  • Sell
  • Sell Bitcoin
  • Sell Ethereum
  • Sell XRP
  • Sell Solana
  • Trade
  • Trade Ethereum
  • Trade SOL
  • Trade Aave
  • Trade Chainlink
  • Crypto Prices
  • Bitcoin Price
  • Ethereum Price
  • Dogecoin Price
  • XRP Price
  • Cardano Price
  • Learn
  • What is Blockchain?
  • What are NFTs?
  • What is Bitcoin mining?
  • What is DeFi?
  • What is crypto staking?
  • Legal
  • Licenses
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms of Use

MoonPay (UK) Limited is a company registered in England and Wales under the company number 12055543. MoonPay (UK) Limited's office address is 20-22 Wenlock Road, London, N1 7GU.
MoonPay (UK) Limited is registered with the Financial Conduct Authority, under FRN 944716 as cryptoasset business, under the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017, as amended (MLRs).

Back to all articles

Tokenomics

Tokenomics (“token economics”) refers to the design of a cryptocurrency that encompasses aspects like supply, allocation, and utility.

Geoffrey Lyons

By Geoffrey Lyons

Published on Aug 2, 2024

Last modified on Feb 26, 2026

Tokenomics (“token economics”) refers to the design of a cryptocurrency that encompasses aspects like supply, allocation, and utility. 

There are tens of thousands of cryptocurrencies and they all work in different ways. Bitcoin has a fixed supply of 21 million whereas Ethereum has no supply cap. Solana allows token holders to nominate validators (those who verify transactions), whereas many cryptocurrencies don’t even have validators.

Broadly speaking, these cryptocurrencies have different tokenomics. 

Sign up to our weekly MoonPay Minute newsletter 

Whitepapers

Usually a cryptocurrency’s tokenomics are laid out in a blockchain’s whitepaper, a short document that outlines the project’s:

Vision

The ultimate aim of the project

Technical details 

How things will work under the hood

Early sale info

How tokens will be distributed

Some whitepapers just focus on one of these elements. Solana’s whitepaper, for example, focuses mainly on the project’s technical details.

Comparing tokenomics

Supply (amount of tokens)

Bitcoin
Max supply 21M

Ethereum
No supply cap

Solana
No supply cap

Utility (a token’s primary use cases)

Bitcoin
P2P exchange

Ethereum
P2P exchange, pays network transaction fees

Solana
P2P exchange, pays network transaction fees

Burning (removing tokens from circulation) 

Bitcoin
No tokens burned

Ethereum
Small amount burned every transaction

Solana
50% of each transaction fee burned 

Allocation (how tokens are distributed at launch)

Bitcoin
Only obtainable through mining or P2P exchange

Ethereum
Crowdsale (83%), early contributors (8.5%), and Ethereum Foundation (8.5%)

Solana
Team, foundation, and community reserve (63%), four private sales (35.4%), one public sale (1.6%)

Staking (locking tokens to support network operations)

Bitcoin
Cannot be staked

Ethereum
Staked to secure the network

Solana
Staked to secure the network

Governance (power of token holders to govern blockchain)

Bitcoin
Fully decentralized, so changes happen only if vast majority of participants agree

Ethereum
Governance happens off-chain by a variety of stakeholders

Solana
Governance happens on-chain through community of validators

Subscribe to our newsletter!

Did you like this article? Sign up to our weekly MoonPay Minute newsletter to get similar content delivered directly to your inbox.