Jake Claver said Ripple controls three of 35 trusted validators and would need roughly 80% network consensus, while David Schwartz has argued token burns offer little evidence of price support.
Ripple cannot unilaterally destroy the roughly 32.45 billion XRP held in escrow, according to comments from Jake Claver and earlier remarks from Ripple CTO Emeritus David Schwartz. Claver said the XRP Ledger relies on decentralized validator consensus, meaning Ripple’s three trusted validators out of 35 are not enough to push through a burn. He said protocol changes require about 80% agreement, so burning escrowed XRP would need support from 28 other independent validators. XRPScan data cited in the discussion showed about 67.53 billion XRP in circulation, with total XRP supply set at 100 billion on the XRP Ledger. Nearly 1.44 million XRP has been permanently burned through transaction fees, leaving almost 99.99 billion available to be burned, of which Ripple holds around a 32% stake. Schwartz’s February 2024 comments also pushed back on the idea of burning escrowed XRP to lift price, saying there was no reason to expect a positive effect. He pointed to Stellar’s burn of 53% of XLM supply, which he said had "no real effect" on price and only reduced the foundation’s resources. Together, the remarks suggest Ripple cannot burn escrowed XRP on its own and that both men see little evidence such a move would help XRP or the broader ecosystem.