XRP Ledger Vote Reduces Account Fees by 90%

The cost of creating an account and interacting on the XRP Ledger (XRPL) has been significantly reduced following a governance vote that cut minimum fees by 90%. On Tuesday, the Account Reserve was lowered from 10 XRP to 1 XRP, while the creation fees for trustlines or ledger objects dropped from 2 XRP to 0.2 XRP.

The decision was confirmed by network validator @aesthetes_art in a social media post: “Together with other UNL Validators, we’ve voted to reduce the #XRPL Reserves. It’s now 10x cheaper to start operating on the XRPL.”

What Does the Fee Reduction Mean?

The Account Reserve refers to the minimum XRP amount required to activate an address on the XRPL. Before activation, an address remains non-functional and cannot send or receive funds. This mechanism helps prevent spam accounts by making account creation more costly. The reserve also applies to objects on the ledger, such as payment channels, escrows, or offers, which incur a small fee to prevent unnecessary data accumulation.

Surge in Account Activity

The fee reduction comes amid a sharp increase in account creation on XRPL. Over 30,000 new accounts were activated on Monday alone—far exceeding the usual daily average of under 2,000, according to network data.

Market Impact

XRP has seen explosive growth over the past 30 days, with prices surging over 400% amid positive regulatory and market developments. This rally has propelled XRP to become the third-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, with prices reaching levels not seen since early 2018.

These changes are expected to make XRPL more accessible and drive further adoption, positioning the network for continued growth.