Supply and hard cap

The cap counts every UNITED ever minted, burns included, and it never rises.

The hard cap is 1,000,000,000 UNITED with 18 decimals. At launch, 50,000,000 UNITED, 5% of the cap, is paired with License liquidity in the pool as protocol-owned liquidity (see Genesis sale). Everything else enters circulation only when a member redeems a Printer or claims a reward.

The supply identity

$$\begin{array}{rl}{M}_{\text{total}}& =S_{\text{seed}}+M_{\text{redeem}}+M_{\text{claim}}\\ S_{\text{circ}}& =M_{\text{total}}-B\\ H& ={10}^9-M_{\text{total}}-U\end{array}$$

M_total every UNITED ever minted, burned UNITED included. S_seed the 50M genesis pool seed, 5% of the cap. M minted on redemption and on claims. S_circ circulating supply. B burned, which lowers S_circ but never M_total. H headroom under the 10⁹ (1,000,000,000 UNITED) cap. U unminted balances.

How the cap works

• The cap counts every UNITED ever minted: the 50,000,000 UNITED pool seed, every UNITED minted on redemption or claim, and every UNITED later burned.
• Issuance is throttled so that this total plus every outstanding claim never exceeds the cap. Near the cap, issuance slows; no claim is ever cancelled.
• Once 1,000,000,000 UNITED has been minted, emissions stop permanently.
• Burns lower circulating supply only and never free up room under the cap.
• Shares that are never issued, such as unpaid Orbit and Sponsor Match shares, are never minted and do not count.

Will the cap be reached?

Base emission is cut 12.5% every year, so issuance levels off instead of running to the cap. The figures below are upper bounds: they assume the full rewards pool is issued and the emission rate is held constant.

Emission rate held at	Lifetime issuance
1.0x	About 760M, or about 810M with the 50M seed. The cap is not reached; emissions taper.
1.25x, the launch ceiling	Approaches 949M, just inside the 950M left after the seed. The cap is still not reached.
Near 2.5x, the policy ceiling	The cap would be reached after about 5.2 years.

UNITED counted toward the cap, at a constant emission rate

• 1.0x levels off near 809M: about 759M issued plus the 50M seed
• 1.25x levels off near 999M: about 949M issued plus the 50M seed
• 2.5x reaches the 1B cap after about 5.2 years

Counts the seed, emission and the full rewards pool, with the rate held constant. Unpaid shares are never minted, so actual issuance can be lower.

What burns supply

Burns come from eight places:

1. 80% of every Printer sale price.
2. 70% of every redemption fee.
3. The 35% tax buyback.
4. Everything the Contraction Vault's defence buys.
5. The 30% burned on esUNITED unlocks.
6. Unpaid Orbit and Sponsor Match shares, which are never issued.
7. Guild Bonus Pool shares for tiers with no holders.
8. Balances spent on Printers.

The other 20% of every Printer price goes to the Incentive Vault.

Burns never reopen the cap

Burned UNITED leaves circulation for good but still counts toward the 1B cap.