Fully diluted valuation, or FDV, is the price of one token multiplied by the largest number of tokens that can ever exist. It answers a hypothetical question: what would the whole supply be worth if every token were already issued and trading at today's price? Market cap answers the present-tense version using only the tokens in circulation, so the distance between the two figures shows how much of the supply has yet to reach the market. Price sites list FDV next to market cap on nearly every token page, and launches and fundraising rounds are often quoted at an FDV. The crypto hub covers the wider market, and how to research a cryptocurrency shows where FDV fits in a due-diligence check.
How do you calculate fully diluted valuation?
Multiply the token's current price by its maximum supply; dividing market cap by the result gives the share of the eventual supply already circulating.
Because market cap is the same price times circulating supply, the price cancels out when you compare them: market cap ÷ FDV = circulating supply ÷ maximum supply. That ratio, the share of the eventual supply already floating, turns FDV into a dilution gauge. Tokens still to come, as a share of today's float, equal 1 ÷ ratio − 1, and the price change that would keep market cap flat once they all circulate equals the ratio minus 1.
| Market cap ÷ FDV | Tokens still to come, as a share of today's float | Price change that keeps market cap flat after full dilution |
|---|---|---|
| 0.95 | 5.3% | −5% |
| 0.75 | 33.3% | −25% |
| 0.50 | 100% | −50% |
| 0.25 | 300% | −75% |
| 0.10 | 900% | −90% |
The table is arithmetic, not a forecast: demand can grow as supply does, and some tokens may stay with long-term holders. It shows how much new buying a low ratio implies.
How does FDV compare with market cap for real coins?
For large, mostly issued coins the two figures are close, while two tokens launched in 2023, Sui and Worldcoin, traded at well under half their FDV.
| Coin | Circulating supply | Supply in CoinGecko's FDV | Market cap | FDV | Market cap ÷ FDV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bitcoin | 20.11 million | 20.11 million total; maximum 21 million | $1,575.99 billion | $1,575.99 billion | 100% |
| Ether | 122.18 million | 122.18 million; no maximum | $280.18 billion | $280.18 billion | 100% |
| XRP | 63.35 billion | 99.99 billion; maximum 100 billion | $79.43 billion | $125.37 billion | 63.4% |
| Solana | 590.15 million | 636.82 million; no maximum | $56.05 billion | $60.49 billion | 92.7% |
| Cardano | 37.58 billion | 45 billion | $7.24 billion | $8.67 billion | 83.5% |
| Sui | 4.14 billion | 10 billion | $3.72 billion | $8.99 billion | 41.4% |
| Worldcoin | 3.74 billion | 10 billion | $1.45 billion | $3.89 billion | 37.4% |
The figures are CoinGecko's at 05:46 UTC on November 2, 2026, and they move with every price tick. The ratios also drift up as schedules run: Sui launched on May 3, 2023 with roughly 5% of its 10 billion tokens circulating, according to its own token schedule page, against 41.4% three and a half years later. XRP's gap comes mostly from coins Ripple still holds, a large share of them in an escrow that releases on a monthly schedule, as what is XRP explains. Live prices for these coins are on the crypto dashboard.
How do token release schedules close the gap?
Release schedules set the dates on which tokens reserved for founders, investors and treasuries can move, and each release pushes market cap toward FDV without changing FDV itself.
The usual pattern is a waiting period called a cliff, when nothing from an allocation can be transferred, then a steady drip of tokens every month or every block for several years. Staking rewards and mining add tokens too, on a schedule written into the protocol; crypto staking and the bitcoin halving cover those two sources.
Worked example: A token trading at 15% of its FDV
A hypothetical token has a maximum supply of 10 billion, 1.5 billion in circulation and a price of $0.40.
- Market cap: 1.5 billion × $0.40 = $600 million
- FDV: 10 billion × $0.40 = $4 billion, so the ratio is 0.15
- Seed investors bought 1 billion tokens at $0.02, a price that valued the full supply at $200 million. At $0.40 those tokens are worth $400 million, 20 times their cost
- Their first release is 25%, or 250 million tokens, at a 12-month cliff, adding 250 ÷ 1,500 = 16.7% to the circulating supply in a single day
- At $0.40 that tranche is worth $100 million. Sold at $0.10, it would still return five times its cost
- If the price holds at $0.40, market cap rises to 1.75 billion × $0.40 = $700 million while FDV stays at $4 billion
The cost basis is the detail most readers miss. Holders who paid a twentieth of today's price can sell at a steep discount and still book large gains, which is why the dates and sizes of insider releases matter more than the headline FDV.
How do data sites calculate FDV differently?
CoinMarketCap multiplies price by maximum supply, CoinGecko multiplies it by total supply, and coins with no maximum have no true FDV at all.
- CoinMarketCap defines FDV as maximum supply times price, with verifiably burned coins removed from the maximum. Its methodology also defines a minted market cap, total supply times price, and it ranks coins by circulating market cap.
- CoinGecko calculates FDV as price times total supply: every token minted so far, locked or not, minus burns. For a coin whose maximum has not been minted yet, that understates the dilution to come.
- DefiLlama imports its FDV figures from CoinGecko, so the two match.
Worked example: Bitcoin's FDV two ways, November 2, 2026
At 05:46 UTC, CoinGecko priced bitcoin at $78,386.17 with 20,105,365 BTC in circulation.
- Market cap: 20,105,365 × $78,386.17 = $1,575.99 billion
- CoinGecko FDV on total supply, which equals the circulating figure: $1,575.99 billion
- FDV on maximum supply of just under 21 million BTC (20,999,999.9769 BTC): 20,999,999.9769 × $78,386.17 = $1,646.11 billion
- Difference: $70.12 billion, the value at today's price of the 894,635 BTC still to be mined
Coins with no cap are a different case. Ether's supply was about 122.18 million ETH (Etherscan, as of Nov 2, 2026), and with no maximum, an FDV on maximum supply is undefined. The FDV a site shows for ether, solana or dogecoin is just today's total supply valued at today's price, so the yearly issuance rate is the more useful dilution measure for them.
Where do you see FDV?
You meet FDV on token pages, in launch and listing announcements, in reports of venture funding rounds and in valuation ratios on DeFi dashboards.
- Token pages. Price sites show FDV beside market cap and supply figures; check which supply the site uses before comparing.
- Launches and listings. New tokens are often described by their initial FDV, which can be many times their initial market cap when only a small float trades.
- Funding rounds. Investors in token projects are commonly reported as buying at an FDV, which converts directly into a price per token once you divide by the maximum supply.
- DeFi valuation ratios. Analysts compare FDV with the deposits a protocol holds, its total value locked, or with the fees it earns, to see what the market pays for each dollar of activity.
How is FDV different from related measures?
FDV values the maximum supply, while market cap, minted market cap and outstanding token value each count a smaller slice, and a stock's fully diluted count works differently again.
| Measure | Supply it uses | Where you meet it |
|---|---|---|
| Market cap | Circulating supply, the tokens freely trading | Rankings on CoinMarketCap and CoinGecko |
| Fully diluted valuation | Maximum supply, or total supply on CoinGecko | Token pages, launches, funding rounds |
| Minted market cap | Total supply net of burns | CoinMarketCap's term for the total-supply figure |
| Outstanding token value | Total supply minus tokens not yet allocated to any purpose | CoinGecko |
| A stock's fully diluted shares | Shares outstanding plus those that options, warrants and convertibles could create | Diluted earnings per share in company filings |
The stock comparison is looser than it looks. Investor.gov describes dilution as the fall in earnings per share and proportional ownership that follows when, for example, convertible securities turn into common stock. A token's maximum supply is set by code or by the project's documents, may take decades to reach, and comes with no earnings to dilute.
What mistakes do people make with FDV?
The biggest mistake is treating FDV as a project's worth, when it prices tokens that may not exist for years at a price set by a small float.
- Confusing FDV with a valuation of the business. It multiplies today's price, set by the tokens trading now, by tokens that have not been sold. Nobody has bought the full supply at that price.
- Thinking FDV stays fixed. FDV moves one for one with price, and burns lower it. Releases change market cap, not FDV.
- Mixing sources. A total-supply FDV from one site and a maximum-supply FDV from another can differ by billions for the same coin, as bitcoin's $70.12 billion gap shows.
- Reading an FDV for an uncapped coin. With no maximum supply, the number shown says nothing about future issuance.
- Assuming the gap closes soon. Bitcoin's last fraction of a coin is due around 2140, and many tokens release supply over four years or more.
- Ignoring who receives the rest. Tokens heading to a community rewards program and tokens heading to early investors with a cost basis near zero carry very different selling pressure.