XRP Ledger Fee Proposal Puts Token Burns Against User Costs

A social-media proposal to raise the XRP Ledger’s standard reference transaction cost by 10 or 100 times has renewed debate over whether larger token burns justify higher costs for users.

Under minimum load, the standard reference cost is 10 drops, equal to 0.00001 XRP. The ledger destroys transaction fees, so a higher base fee would burn more XRP with each transaction while increasing the minimum amount users pay.

Ripple CTO Emeritus David Schwartz criticized fee revenue as a measure of blockchain performance, arguing that it reflects the cost imposed on users. “I think fee revenue is a terrible metric since it measures how much friction the chain didn’t remove,” he wrote. “If you represent the people who collect the fees, then fees are great. But what about the people who pay the fees? Who cares about their interests?”

Trusted validators adjust the ledger’s base transaction cost through a process that uses the median of their preferences. The proposal remains a social-media discussion; no validator vote for an increase or plan to implement one has been established.