Realized cap
what the market actually paid, in total
The total amount of money that has actually gone into bitcoin, counting every coin at the price it last moved at rather than at today's price. Rising means real money is flowing in; flat or falling means coins are moving at a loss.
DefinitionSum over unspent outputs of value x the price at the block that created them, carried incrementally: RC(h) = RC(h-1) + created_value(h) x price(h) - the cost basis destroyed at h.
LimitThe 1.46M BTC mined before a market price existed (17 July 2010) carry a cost basis of zero rather than being dropped, so they flatter every profit measure built on this. Supply with no cost basis charts how much that is. In euro this is the global market's cost basis expressed in euro, not what European holders paid; before 2013 the euro price is the dollar price converted at the ECB rate.