Ripple CTO Emeritus Defends XRP Ledger's Low Transaction Fees

Ripple CTO Emeritus David Schwartz defended the XRP Ledger's low transaction fees in a recent discussion on X. An X user questioned the network's relatively low fees compared to other Layer 1 blockchains, noting that fee revenue is a growing metric for evaluating L1s. The user pointed out that XRP Ledger's fees are burned, not paid to validators, which permanently reduces the supply of XRP.

The user suggested that increasing transaction fees could lead to more XRP being burned. Since the XRP Ledger's launch, 14,403,762 XRP (0.014% of the total supply) has been burned due to low transaction fees. The user asked whether the near-zero fees matter more for payments and tokenization adoption.

Schwartz argued that fee revenue is a poor metric for evaluating blockchains, as it measures the friction the chain didn't remove. He emphasized the importance of considering the interests of those who pay the fees, not just those who collect them. Schwartz defended the low fees, stating that cheap, fast settlement is the primary goal of the XRP Ledger.