Not just Bitcoin: which crypto have a 21 million coin supply

When Satoshi Nakamoto hardcoded Bitcoin’s 21 million coin limit into the protocol, he probably didn’t anticipate that this number would become a gold standard of sorts for the crypto industry. 

After Zcash (ZEC) shot up 3000% from 2024 lows in November 2025 and broke the $600 mark for the first time in seven years, people are asking: wasn’t ZEC’s success driven by the fact that it shares with Bitcoin not only a philosophy of privacy but also a hard supply cap?

Why 21 million?

Limited asset issuance results in potential scarcity. Under conditions of growing demand, such a feature becomes the main price-forming factor. 

In Bitcoin’s case, over 19.9 million coins out of the possible 21 million have already been mined, and each new block brings this cryptocurrency closer to complete exhaustion of new supply (approximately in 2140).

This model also works as a built-in mechanism to protect against inflation: unlike fiat currencies that central banks print as needed, the amount of “digital gold” is strictly fixed.

Bitcoin Cash (BCH): clone with improvements

First on the list is Bitcoin Cash, which emerged from a 2017 hard fork. BCH completely copied the original’s tokenomics, including the 21 million coin limit and halving mechanism (every four years). As of November 2025, approximately 19.95 million BCH are in circulation.

The main difference from Bitcoin is the increased block size (up to 32 MB), which allows processing up to 200 transactions per second (versus 7 for BTC). At the same time, BCH transfer fees remain at fractions of a cent, making the coin potentially attractive for real payments, not just as a store of value.

Bitcoin Cash’s current price hovers around $511, with a market cap exceeding $10.2 billion. The coin ranks 13th on CoinMarketCap.

Zcash (ZEC): privacy with Bitcoin tokenomics

The main sensation of fall 2025 is, of course, Zcash. The coin that traded at $15 in July 2024 hit $748 in November, showing growth of over 3000%. Currently, ZEC (which is a Bitcoin fork) is trading around $600, and analysts call the $1,000 level quite achievable in the coming months.

This growth resulted from several simultaneous factors:

Institutional interest. Arthur Hayes, founder of hedge fund Maelstrom and former BitMEX CEO, publicly stated that ZEC became the fund’s second-largest liquid asset. Hayes calls Zcash’s shielded transactions “privacy infrastructure for DEX” and predicts a $10,000 price. He also urged users to withdraw their ZEC from centralized exchanges to move to self-custody.

Protocol upgrade. In 2025, the Zashi CrossPay upgrade was released, which improved network functionality and attracted developers’ attention.

Growing demand for privacy. Against the backdrop of increasing regulatory pressure, interest in anonymous cryptocurrencies has grown. Global transaction volume with privacy coins exceeded $250 billion.

Tokenization on other blockchains. Wrapped versions of ZEC appeared on Solana and BNB Chain, allowing the coin to integrate into the DeFi ecosystem and attract over 16,000 new wallets.

Approximately 16.3 million ZEC out of a maximum of 21 million are currently in circulation. Zcash uses the same halving algorithm as Bitcoin, and the next reduction in miner rewards will occur in November 2025, which could further squeeze the coin’s supply.

Bitcoin SV (BSV): “Satoshi’s true vision”

The Bitcoin Satoshi Vision project appeared in 2018 after another split in the Bitcoin Cash community. The project leader is the controversial Craig Wright, who calls himself Satoshi Nakamoto, although there’s no proof of this.

BSV also has a maximum issuance of 21 million coins, of which almost 20 million have already been mined. The project’s main feature is a giant block size of up to 4 GB, which theoretically allows processing over 50,000 transactions per second.

However, BSV’s reputation has seriously suffered due to Wright’s personality and a series of legal proceedings. The coin trades around $24, with a market cap of $470 million, ranking 109th in the global cryptocurrency rating.

Bittensor (TAO): artificial intelligence on blockchain

The most technologically advanced project on the list is Bittensor, which combines blockchain and machine learning. The idea is to create a decentralized marketplace for AI models, where participants receive rewards in TAO cryptocurrency for providing computing power and training neural networks.

TAO tokenomics are completely copied from Bitcoin: maximum 21 million coins, halving every four years (the next one is scheduled for December 2025), daily issuance of about 7,200 tokens. Just over 10 million TAO are currently in circulation.

The project has attracted attention from major venture funds: Grayscale launched a special Bittensor Trust, and Barry Silbert introduced his own AI crypto fund Yuma based on Bittensor. TAO’s price as of November 2025 is around $380, with a market cap of $3.9 billion.

Bittensor subnets (subnet tokens) create additional investment opportunities within the ecosystem, and platforms like Taofi allow direct exchange of these tokens.

What unites these projects

All cryptocurrencies with a 21 million coin issuance use the Proof-of-Work consensus mechanism and regular reduction of miner rewards. This model creates a predictable deflationary economy where an asset’s value potentially grows as it approaches maximum supply.

It’s important to understand that limited issuance is not a guarantee of price growth. Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin SV with identical tokenomics trade tens of times cheaper than Bitcoin. Real utility, technology adoption level, and community trust in the project play key roles.

The Zcash story shows that projects can explode when several factors coincide: technological improvements, support from influential players, and general market trends (in this case, the privacy coins narrative). At the same time, don’t forget about regulatory risks: the European MiCA regulation could lead to delisting of privacy coins on major exchanges from 2027.