Biggest XRP Account Deletion! What’s going on?

XRP Ledger (XRPL), a decentralized ledger associated with Ripple, has witnessed one of the biggest increases in its history! However, this is an increase in a negative sense. According to recent data, XRP Ledger has experienced an unprecedented increase in account deletions.

Record in account deletion of XRP Ledger!

As Cryptokoin.com reported, XRP Ledger witnessed one of the record-breaking account deletions. This action is the largest deletion ever recorded. The significant increase in account deletions is largely due to the measures taken by leading crypto exchange Poloniex. Accordingly, Poloniex deleted about 15,000 old XRP accounts. This move of the crypto exchange led to the repurchase of around 275,000 XRP tokens.

According to Thomas Silkjær, head of analytics and compliance at the XRP Ledger Foundation, the number of deleted accounts is on the rise. This results in more than 30,000 XRP being burned as fees. As Silkjær points out, the cost of deleting an XRPL account is equal to the owner’s reserve of 2 XRP per account. Considering Poloniex deleted 15,000 accounts, the total amount burned in fees is substantial. Also, considering that Poloniex has a total of 84,000 accounts, it is possible that this will increase significantly.

Meanwhile, if all of these accounts are deleted, it could result in 168,000 XRP being burned. Surprisingly, the exchange has created separate accounts for each of its users. It also maintained a minimum reserve balance for each of them. This outdated practice appears to be the result of ignorance or oversight regarding the use of target tags, a feature in the XRP Ledger that allows efficient grouping and identification of transactions to a particular party. Poloniex has since switched to a target tag-based model.

Poloniex’s account deletion and token burning process

Poloniex has decided to delete individual accounts and maintain a minimum reserve balance for each user. This led to a significant token burn in fees. With 15,000 accounts deleted, a significant amount of XRP has long since disappeared. However, the impact is even more significant considering the stock exchange’s total of 84,000 accounts. If all these accounts are deleted, 168,000 XRP will be burned.

This process includes identifying inactive or abandoned accounts and recovering their associated XRP tokens. The recovered tokens are then used by Poloniex for various purposes such as increasing liquidity or supporting other exchange activities.

XRP Ledger is an open-source, decentralized Blockchain protocol that facilitates fast and low-cost transactions. Ripple’s utility token used for transactions and remittances serves as the backbone for XRP. XRPL distinguishes itself from other Blockchain networks thanks to the consensus algorithm known as the Ripple Protocol Consensus Algorithm (RPCA), which offers scalability and high throughput.