The Ripple ledger network now has the ability to delete wallets, thanks to XRP network community vote

By Selena 05/9/20 7:42 PM

A proposal from Ripple that allows users to delete their accounts just passed. As such, XRP users can now actively delete wallets on the XRP network if they wish. This is an update that has been voted in favor of the change by the XRP community.

XRP users can now delete their wallets on the XRP network if they so desire

The proposal went live on the XRP Ledger on Friday after receiving support from 80% of the Ripple-approved validators that power the network.

May 8, 2020.

After maintaining an 80% consensus during the mandatory 15-day voting period, the XRPL DeletableAccounts Amendment became enabled on May 8, 2020 at 4:29:30 UTC, through the ledger 55,313,921.

Amendment monitoring tool provided by @xrpscan.https://t.co/5Fmai8ub99 pic.twitter.com/z4xv6sM9BK

— Arturo Portilla (@Arturo_P_A) May 8, 2020

Furthermore, XRPL.org noted:

“An account in the XRP Ledger represents a holder of XRP and a sender of transactions.”

This feature was announced in a May 6 post released by the XRPL blog:

“Only the owner of an account can delete it, though, since you have to send a transaction from the account to be deleted.”

Terminating a wallet means that the account no longer exists on XRP’s present ledger, although the ledger’s unchangeable history will still show the wallet’s past activity, the post said. Sending 20 XRP or more to an old wallet, however, revives the dead account. Anyone can do this, but the wallet’s private keys are still necessary to manage the wallet.

The XRP post detailed:

“Deleting an account also allows owners to gain back XRP stuck in old accounts as each wallet requires a minimum balance of 20 XRP.”

Former XRP Center manager, Arturo Portilla stated:

For the first time in history, an XRPL account has been deleted.

20 reserved XRP were released, 15 XRP were recovered and 5 XRP were burned as the transaction fee (as expected).

Thanks to @xrplorer for providing a very insightful view of the XRPL.https://t.co/bjiDUgVB9R pic.twitter.com/gtTWk1YP5V

— Arturo Portilla (@Arturo_P_A) May 8, 2020

Portilla then added:

This newly enabled amendment conceives two types of accounts: a. deletable accounts, and b. non-deletable accounts.

Since certain XRPL objects have implied outstanding obligations (i.e. escrows, trust lines, checks and paychans), accounts showing such objects are non-deletable.

— Arturo Portilla (@Arturo_P_A) May 8, 2020

The update from XRP also includes other details, such as changing the XRP Ledger number.