Can Ethereum be created out of thin air like US Dollars can?

Question

Is Ethereum like another very common crypto-currency that has a theoretical maximum number of available coins?

From what I can tell Ethereum is more like dollars or shares of stock in a company as there can be an unlimited number issued and/or printed.

Updated: I selected a correct answer (ETH is not like fiat currency and cannot be created like U.S. Dollars) and wanted people to know there is mis-information being spread about Ethereum being like fiat currency. I suspect holders of BTC may be trying to steer people that way.

Try searching next time https://ethereum.stackexchange.com/questions/443/what-is-the-total-supply-of-ether — OpenUserX03, May 08 '17 at 17:43
@OpenUserX03 this is not exactly the same question and a nice answer is always welcomed even for a duplicate. — Nicolas Massart, May 08 '17 at 19:15
My apologies, I failed to use the right search terms. I'm a proud owner of ETH because of the answers. — Rich Bianco, May 15 '17 at 22:22
I tried deleting the question due to the negative feedback but not allowed to, sorry. — Rich Bianco, Jun 08 '17 at 20:45

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered May 08 '17 at 19:23

1

No. Ether is only issued by the network in reward of a block creation. This is called mining and miners are those who runs computations to create a block to win the reward. However issuance rate is not linear. Have a look at What is Ethereum's inflation rate? (how quickly will new ether be created)

answered May 08 '17 at 19:23

Nicolas Massart

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I was misinformed, there is misinformation going around about Ethereum and that it is like fiat currency, unlike Bitcoin. Of course the sources aren't as good as looking on the official site for which I failed and was penalized (rightfully) in down votes. Thank you by the way. – Rich Bianco May 15 '17 at 22:17

Can Ethereum be created out of thin air like US Dollars can?

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