The best approximation of the maximum amount of coins that will ever exist in the lifetime of the cryptocurrency. *see Circulating Supply and Total Supply.
Max supply is the best approximation of the maximum amount of coins that will ever exist in the lifetime of the cryptocurrency. Once the maximum supply is exhausted, no new coins or tokens will be produced or mined.
Usually, the maximum supply is determined by the limits outlined by each underlying protocol of every digital asset. In the case of Bitcoin, the maximum supply is fixed at 21 million coins. Not all cryptocurrencies have a predetermined fixed supply, and one of them is Ethereum.
Maximum supply is a different concept from total supply. Maximum supply is calculated by adding the total amount of coins that have been mined with those that are yet to be mined. In contrast, total supply is calculated by subtracting the number of coins that have been lost from the amount that have been mined.
No max supply: Some cryptocurrencies have no maximum supply, meaning that the number of coins can increase indefinitely. This type of supply is often seen in utility tokens, where the supply is not limited by the number of coins but by the number of users.