An XRPL validator explains why it is impossible to create more XRP tokens beyond the initial supply of 100 billion tokens.
Amid recent discussions, several critics now claim Ripple has the power to create more XRP beyond the original 100 billion. However, a well-known XRP Ledger (XRPL) validator, Vet, has thoroughly explained why this is not possible.
His statements countered recent claims from Pierre Rochard, a Bitcoin maximalist and Vice President of Research at Riot, amid widespread attack on XRP.
Vet Explains Why More XRP Cannot Be Created
In an X post, Vet, a decentralized unique node list (dUNL) validator for the XRPL, recently clarified that the XRP supply is permanently fixed at 100 billion.
100,000,000,000 $XRP were created with the genesis account over a decade ago.
However, some believe that additional XRP could be issued 🤔.
Let me walk you through why that's not possible and what this means for XRP🧵 pic.twitter.com/3cU3ffiWhd
— Vet (@Vet_X0) February 2, 2025
He pointed out that the entire supply of 100 billion XRP was created in 2012 when the XRPL launched. The genesis account, which initially held all XRP, is hardcoded into the ledger, and its cryptographic keys are publicly available. Notably, this ensures transparency, as anyone can verify the original supply.
Vet emphasized that the XRPL design prevents the creation of new XRP at all times. Further, the ledger allows anyone running a node to check the total supply at any given block using the network’s built-in ledger command.
This means that the system monitors every transaction, and if a bug were to ever attempt to generate new XRP, the system would block it immediately.
Vet pointed to an important safeguard within the XRPL called the “invariant checker,” a security feature coded into the system. For context, this function continuously checks all transactions to ensure no new XRP is being created.
🔹 NO XRP can't be issued again!
The XRPL checks every-time if a transaction creates new XRP e.g through a bug and blocks it!
As a result, there was never an incident in history that created new XRP – unlike with Bitcoin.
These checks are called invariant checkers in the code:… pic.twitter.com/Tb0LaEr5Ao
— Vet (@Vet_X0) February 2, 2025
Speaking further, the outspoken XRPL validator stressed that, unlike Bitcoin, which has experienced accidental inflation due to bugs in the past, the XRPL has never had such an issue. Vet was making reference to the 184 billion Bitcoin bug which led to the creation of 184 billion BTC tokens in August 2010.
Additionally, Vet reminded the community that XRP is actually deflationary. For context, every transaction burns a small portion of XRP as a fee, reducing the total circulating supply over time. Because of this, the number of XRP in existence is only decreasing—not increasing.
Rochard’s Claims and Ripple CTO’s Response
The validator’s commentary came on the back of claims from Pierre Rochard argued last week that Ripple could still issue trillions of additional XRP.
On Jan. 26, he alleged that Ripple could fork the XRPL software and remove existing supply restrictions or even alter escrow locks. He further argued that Ripple had misled the public about XRPL’s decentralization.
In addition, Rochard suggested that there are no “alternative publishers” of XRPL’s rules, implying that Ripple and its affiliates control the system. He claimed that XRP’s scarcity is an illusion and compared it to fiat currency, which governments can print at will.
Ripple CTO David Schwartz addressed Rochard’s claims. Schwartz argued that any blockchain, including Bitcoin, could undergo a fork. However, simply forking a blockchain does not force anyone to adopt the new version or change the functionality of the original version.
And anyone can trivially fork the bitcoin software to remove the 21 million bitcoin limit. That's how decentralized systems work — anyone can change them for any, and only, people who choose to run the changed code.
— David "JoelKatz" Schwartz (@JoelKatz) January 26, 2025
He explained that Rochard’s argument could also apply to Bitcoin. Anyone can fork Bitcoin’s code and remove the 21 million BTC supply limit, but that does not mean the original Bitcoin network would accept the change.
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