XRP’s burn mechanism, which is a long-term supply control feature of the network, is now facing serious questions after daily burns are now at almost zero. Particularly, on-chain metrics from CryptoQuant show that the once-active burn activity that removed thousands of coins per day from circulation has virtually disappeared in recent weeks. This collapse in burns is notable, as it shows how much XRP burns are contributing to the cryptocurrency’s overall token dynamics.
Burn Activity Falls Off A Cliff
XRP burns have dropped significantly in the past few months, and burn activity has been virtually nonexistent in August and September. This drop in burns is visualized in a detailed chart from CryptoQuant, which tracks the historical progression of XRP burn activity and the changes that have taken place since the beginning of the year.
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Back in December 2024, burns briefly surged to more than 15,000 coin in a single day during a period of high network activity. That momentum carried into the early months of 2025, when burn levels stabilized at a moderate but steady pace, ranging from 2,500 to 7,500 XRP per day.
By late August, however, activity had collapsed to historic lows, sliding below 1,000 tokens daily and remaining at those depressed levels throughout September. Current figures show only 400 to 750 XRP being burned each day, an amount that is almost insignificant when compared to the token’s massive supply of more than 60 billion.
XRP’s burn mechanism is unlike that of popular crypto burns like Shiba Inu. Instead of large periodic burns, it has a constant, small-scale burn mechanism. Each time a transaction is processed on the XRP Ledger, a small fee (set at a minimum of 0.00001 XRP) is permanently destroyed. This mechanism means that every transfer contributes to reducing supply, but the effect is only meaningful when transaction volumes are consistently high.
The huge decline in XRP burns, therefore, reflects not only the burn slowdown but also lower levels of transactions on the XRP Ledger itself, at least compared to Q4 2024. In effect, the burn statistics are serving as a mirror of current on-chain activity.
XRP Successfully Defends $2.8
Interestingly, XRP’s price action in the past months has not mirrored the collapse in burns. In contrast, the XRP price has managed notable rallies, with it breaking to a new all-time high of $3.65 in July.
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At the time of writing, however, the altcoin has retraced by over 20% from that all-time high. Particularly, recent price action in the most recent seven days saw the altcoin break below $3 again after rejecting an earlier rally between $3.18 and $3.15. However, it seems XRP bulls stepped in around support at $2.8 to prevent further declines.
At the time of writing, XRP is trading at $2.88, having staged a 2.2% rebound in the past 24 hours.
Featured image from Getty Images, chart from Tradingview.com
