An emission schedule defines how new tokens enter circulation over time. It is the single most important input to long-run supply, and it interacts directly with demand to set price. Three canonical shapes dominate:

Linear — fixed tokens per block (e.g., 2 ETH pre-merge). Predictable, but supply grows forever.
Halving / step-down — issuance cut at intervals (Bitcoin: 50 → 25 → 12.5 → 6.25 BTC every 210,000 blocks). Front-loaded scarcity.
Decaying / exponential — issuance declines smoothly (e.g., Monero tail emission of 0.6 XMR/block after 2022).

Compare cumulative supply under each model at year 10 assuming 1,000 tokens at genesis:

Model	Year-1 issuance	Year-10 cumulative	Inflation at Y10
Linear (1,000/yr)	1,000	11,000	~9%
Halving (1,000 → 500 → ...)	1,000	~2,000	<1%
Decaying (50%/yr)	1,000	~2,000	~0.1%

Key insight: inflation rate, not absolute issuance, drives dilution. A token can print 1M new units per year and still be deflationary if the base is 1B and demand grows faster.