XRP destination tag: what it is, when you need one, and how to avoid a lost deposit

What is a destination tag?

On the XRP Ledger, a destination tag is a 32-bit unsigned integer, a whole number from 0 up to 4,294,967,295, attached to a payment. It has no effect on the ledger itself. Its job is to tell the receiver who the payment is for. A source tag is the mirror image: a number the sender attaches so the receiver knows where to send a refund or which customer the payment came from.

Why exchanges use tags

Exchanges and other custodial platforms usually run one XRP address for thousands of customers, a setup the XRP Ledger documentation calls hosted accounts. Every customer deposits to the same address, and the tag is what separates one customer from another. That is why an exchange’s deposit screen shows two fields: the address and the tag, sometimes called a memo. You need both.

What happens if you forget the tag

An account can switch on a setting called Require Destination Tags. If it has, the ledger rejects any payment to it that has no tag, so your XRP never leaves your wallet and you only lose the tiny transaction cost. If the receiving platform has not switched it on, the payment goes through but arrives without the number that identifies you. The XRP sits in the platform’s shared account, and getting it credited depends entirely on that platform’s support team.

• Contact the receiving platform, not the sender, with the transaction hash, amount and time.
• A payout already sent from a swap cannot be reversed by the swap service.
• Prevention is simple: copy the tag from the deposit screen every time.

Personal wallets do not need a tag

A self-custody wallet such as Xaman or a Ledger or Trezor controls its own XRP address, so there is nobody else to tell apart. Leave the tag empty when you send to your own wallet. If a tag is added anyway it does no harm, because tags have no function on the ledger itself.

The account reserve: why some XRP cannot be sent

Every XRP Ledger account must hold a minimum balance called the reserve. Since 2 December 2024 the base reserve is 1 XRP, plus an owner reserve of 0.2 XRP for each object the account owns, such as a trust line or an open offer. That XRP cannot be sent, so your wallet shows a spendable amount below your total. A brand-new address only starts to exist on the ledger when it receives at least the base reserve; a smaller first payment fails. Each transaction also costs at least 10 drops (0.00001 XRP), which is destroyed rather than paid to anyone.

• Send your spendable balance, not your total balance.
• A first payment to a new address must be at least 1 XRP.
• Removing trust lines you no longer use frees their owner reserve.

How long an XRP payment takes

The XRP Ledger closes a new ledger every few seconds; the documentation gives 3 to 5 seconds in most places. Once a payment is in a validated ledger it is final. If an exchange takes longer to credit a deposit, that delay is on the exchange side, not the network.

Destination tags on VeriSwap

When you receive XRP from a swap, the order form has a destination tag field marked if required. Leave it empty for your own wallet. If the payout goes to an exchange, copy the exchange’s tag into that field exactly; the widget accepts numbers only. When you send XRP to VeriSwap, our deposit address needs no tag: send the exact amount shown on the order and leave any tag field in your wallet or exchange form empty. The order shows one receive amount with the 0.5% service fee included, valid for 15 minutes, with a 50 USD minimum.

• XMR → XRP: paste an r address and, for an exchange, its tag.
• XRP → USDT and XRP → BTC: send the spendable amount; no tag needed for the deposit.

Where to find the tag on an exchange

On most exchanges the tag appears on the XRP deposit screen, directly under or next to the address, sometimes labelled memo, tag or destination tag. Some exchanges show a warning that the tag is required; take it literally. If the deposit screen shows no tag at all, the platform is probably giving you your own address, and you can leave the field empty. When in doubt, check the exchange’s own help page for XRP deposits before you create the swap order.

Checking a payment on the ledger

Every XRP payment can be looked up by its transaction hash in an XRP Ledger explorer. The record shows the destination address, the amount delivered and, if one was used, the destination tag. After a swap payout, compare those three fields with what your exchange gave you. If they match and the exchange has still not credited you, send its support team the hash; it shows the payment reached its account with your tag.

Mistakes to avoid

Almost every lost XRP deposit comes down to the tag or the reserve.

• Leaving out an exchange’s destination tag.
• Copying the tag from an old deposit screen; some platforms assign a new one.
• Putting the tag in the address field or the address in the tag field.
• Trying to send the reserve, so the payment fails.
• Sending a first payment smaller than 1 XRP to a new address.