Thermocap

Thermocap is an on-chain aggregate equal to the cumulative USD value of all revenue paid to miners over the entire lifetime of the network, combining both block subsidies (newly issued coins) and transaction fees, each valued at the price prevailing when it was earned. Sometimes called the network's aggregate security spend, it represents the total economic cost that has been expended to mine and secure every block since genesis.

How it is built

For each block, the coinbase reward plus fees is recorded in USD at that block's price, and these figures are summed forward through time. Because it only ever accumulates, Thermocap rises monotonically and reflects the running total of capital that has flowed to miners. It is closely tied to the real-world expenditure on hardware and electricity that underpins proof-of-work security.

How it is used

Thermocap is most often applied as the denominator in the market-cap-to-thermocap ratio, a rough valuation-to-cumulative-revenue gauge analogous to a price-to-sales multiple. Low ratios have historically corresponded to the network being valued modestly relative to the security spend it has absorbed, while high ratios indicate the opposite. Like all such ratios it is a descriptive lens, not a forecast.

This metric is educational and not trading advice. Because Thermocap aggregates miner revenue, it connects the economics of on-chain valuation to the underlying proof-of-work; compare it with cost-basis aggregates like Realized Cap.