Many people forget that, despite some nuances, XRP is a deflationary asset. Coins are issued in the amount of 100 billion tokens, and can no longer be created, and when conducting transactions, at least 0.00001 XRP is irretrievably burned.
Recently, the total supply of cryptocurrencies XRP decreased sharply, which attracted the attention of users. Twitter user by nickname 24HRSCRYPTO indicated a decrease in the number of coins in circulation:
“30 days back, total XRP was 99,988,863,851, today the total is 99,988,616,835 (247,016 XRP burned and gone forever in 30 days), about 8,233 per day, which is ideally combined with a burn rate below 24 hours. That number could change by 5,000 and then by 7,000 in 24 hours as the trillions come in. However, this number will decrease when the value of XRP rises, so $100 per XRP is inevitable.”
Unprecedented burning of XRP tokens
This event sparked discussion and speculation regarding the potential impact on the value of XRP and the underlying reasons for this unexpected burn.
Data from the XRP Explorer Ledger, show that approximately 247,016 XRP tokens are permanently decommissioned over a 30-day period. This equates to an average daily burn rate of approximately 8,233 tokens.
Neil Hartner , a senior software engineer at RippleX, on Twitter clarified the root cause of this unexpected spike in XRP burning. He attributed the reduction in supply to a series of account deletions on the XRP Ledger network, with each deletion resulting in the burning of two XRP tokens.
“Mostly this is the result of deleting the XRPL account. Each account deletion burns 2 XRP. In June 2023, Poloniex alone deleted 85,566 old XRPL accounts which burned 171,132 XRP. They have finished deleting accounts.”
Hartner revealed that older accounts that previously had a locked 20 XRP balance, which was a previous account reservation requirement, have been removed.
Elimination of 85,566 legacy XRPL accounts
The sudden decline in the overall supply of the cryptocurrency has led to speculation that it could affect the value of the token, while others interpret this as a positive sign of network optimization.
One notable event that contributed to this phenomenon happened in June 2023 and is related to the actions of the cryptocurrency exchange giant Poloniex. They have reportedly removed a staggering 85,566 stale XRPL accounts, resulting in a burn of 171,132 XRP tokens.
However, as a Ripple engineer confirmed, this process has already been completed, suggesting that account deletions are unlikely to continue on the same scale for the foreseeable future.
It is worth noting that the amount burned is relatively small compared to the total amount of XRP in circulation.