Bitcoin Realised Capitalisation values each current unspent transaction output at the market price when that output was created. Add those values together and you get Realised Cap.

It is a different question from Market Cap. Market Cap reprices the entire circulating supply at today’s price; Realised Cap keeps a separate last-moved reference price for every UTXO. That makes it an aggregate cost-basis proxy, not a record of the money investors actually paid.

How Realised Cap is calculated

Formula. Sum of each current UTXO’s BTC value × the Bitcoin price when that output was created.

When an output is spent, its old contribution leaves the calculation and newly created outputs enter at the current market price. If the new reference value is higher, Realised Cap rises; if it is lower, Realised Cap falls.

Why Realised Cap changes

A sustained rise means outputs are being repriced upwards on balance. This often happens when coins last moved at lower prices are spent during an advance.

A decline means higher-reference-price outputs are being replaced at lower prices, a pattern associated with aggregate loss realisation. A flat period means the upward and downward repricing effects are small or broadly offsetting.

What the metric does not tell you

A change in Realised Cap is not the same as cash entering or leaving Bitcoin. Self-transfers, custody movements and change outputs can reset last-moved prices without a new beneficial owner.

Lost and long-dormant coins keep old reference values, while off-chain trades can change ownership without changing the UTXO set. Entity adjustment and price-source choices can also produce differences between providers.

How to read it

Rising quickly. The UTXO set is being repriced upwards on balance.

Rising steadily. Higher last-moved values are accumulating over time.

Flat. Upward and downward repricing effects are limited or offsetting.

Falling. Outputs are being repriced lower on balance.

Compared with Market Cap. The gap between the two is the foundation of MVRV and NUPL.

Realised Cap updates daily inside the Cost Bases dashboard, alongside Realised Price and cohort cost-basis views.

Common questions

Is Realised Cap the same as Market Cap?

No. Market Cap values all circulating BTC at spot; Realised Cap values each current UTXO at its own last-moved price.

Does a rise prove new money entered Bitcoin?

No. It shows net upward repricing of spent outputs under the model. The chain cannot prove the source or purpose of the movement.

Can Realised Cap fall?

Yes. It falls when outputs with higher reference prices are spent and replaced by outputs valued at lower current prices.

Why is it a foundational metric?

MVRV, NUPL, Realised Price and several sell-side measures use Realised Cap directly or build on the same last-moved-value framework.

How does Realised Price differ?

Realised Price is Realised Cap divided by circulating supply. It expresses the same aggregate model as a price per BTC.