Supply adjustment is a change in the number of stablecoin units outstanding that occurs through issuance, redemption, rebasing, burning, or protocol rules intended to respond to demand or price conditions.
In issuer-backed stablecoins, supply generally expands when new tokens are issued and contracts when tokens are redeemed and destroyed or returned to issuer inventory. Algorithmic systems can use additional mechanisms, including automatic rebasing or linked-token exchanges, to alter effective supply. A supply change can be part of peg maintenance, but its effect depends on demand, redemption access, market liquidity, and the design of the adjustment mechanism.
Supply adjustment describes the change in outstanding units. Stablecoin minting and burning describe specific technical actions that can contribute to that change.
Supply behavior helps explain how stablecoin systems respond to inflows, redemptions, and peg deviations.
An issuer can mint new tokens after receiving eligible customer funds and burn tokens after redemption, increasing and decreasing outstanding supply.