What Is XRP?
Understand what XRP actually is and the role it plays on the XRP Ledger.
30-Second Version
- XRP is the native digital asset of the XRP Ledger (XRPL), a public blockchain network that launched in 2012.
- It exists inside the ledger itself: accounts hold XRP balances, and XRP is the only asset that can pay XRPL transaction fees.
- XRP is not issued by a bank or a government, and it is not a share in any company. It is a bearer digital asset recorded on a public ledger.
- People use XRP for different reasons — transferring value between accounts, paying network fees, providing liquidity in XRPL markets, or simply holding it.
Go Deeper
XRP in one sentence
XRP is the built-in digital asset of the XRP Ledger — the unit the network itself understands, tracks and uses to pay for the cost of processing transactions.
Every XRPL account holds a balance in XRP. Other assets can be issued on the ledger by third parties (for example stablecoins or tokenised assets), but XRP is the only one that is native to the protocol.
Where XRP comes from
XRP was not mined. All 100 billion XRP were created when the ledger launched in 2012, and no new XRP can be created afterwards. The supply that circulates today has been distributed over time through sales, grants and other transfers.
A small amount of XRP is permanently destroyed with every transaction as a fee. That means the total supply slowly decreases rather than grows.
What XRP is used for
- Paying XRPL transaction fees — required for every ledger operation.
- Meeting the account reserve, a small XRP amount each account must hold to exist on the ledger.
- Transferring value between XRPL accounts, typically settling in a few seconds.
- Acting as a bridge asset between other assets traded on the XRPL decentralised exchange.
What XRP is not
- Not equity — holding XRP gives you no ownership of a company or claim on its revenue.
- Not a deposit — there is no issuer promising to redeem it at a fixed value.
- Not a guarantee of anything. Its market price moves, and future use of the network is uncertain.