XRP wallet guide: r-addresses, the reserve and receiving a swap

What is an XRP wallet?

An XRP wallet stores the cryptographic keys for an XRP Ledger account; the XRP itself is recorded on the ledger. The XRP Ledger documentation puts it plainly: whoever has the secret key for an address has full control of that account, and sending XRP to an address gives the sender no special rights over it. Each account has a master key pair and can add a regular key pair that can be swapped later, or a signer list for multi-signing. Most wallets back up the secret as a recovery phrase or family seed. Write it down offline and never type it into a website, a support chat or a swap form. A swap service never needs it; to receive XRP you only share your address.

What an XRP address looks like

A classic XRP address starts with a lowercase r and is 25 to 35 characters long. It uses letters and digits but leaves out 0, O, I and l, which are easy to confuse, and it is case-sensitive. The last part of the address is a 4-byte checksum, so the chance that a random string of characters forms a valid address is about 1 in 2 to the power of 32. That catches most typing errors, but it cannot tell you whether the address belongs to the person you meant. A few special addresses, such as rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrhoLvTp, are black holes: nobody holds their key, and XRP sent there is lost.

• Starts with r, 25 to 35 characters.
• Case-sensitive; copy and paste rather than type.
• One address per account; tokens on the XRP Ledger use the same address.

X-addresses

You may also see an address that starts with X. An X-address packs a classic address and a destination tag into one string, so a sender cannot forget the tag. Addresses beginning with X are for mainnet and those beginning with T are for test networks. Many wallets and libraries understand them, but the XRP Ledger protocol itself only recognises classic addresses. VeriSwap’s order form asks for a classic r-address and has a separate field for a numeric destination tag, so if an exchange gives you an X-address, look on its deposit screen for the classic address and tag instead.

Activating a new XRP account

On the XRP Ledger an address does not exist as an account until it is funded. A Payment creates the account automatically if it sends enough XRP to a valid address that has no account yet; the minimum is the base reserve, currently 1 XRP. A smaller first payment fails with the result code tecNO_DST_INSUF_XRP, which means the destination does not exist and the payment does not carry enough XRP to create it. A new wallet app can show you an address straight away, but until that first payment arrives, explorers will report the account as not found.

The XRP reserve: 1 XRP plus 0.2 per object

Every XRP Ledger account must keep a minimum balance that cannot be sent. It has two parts. The base reserve is 1 XRP per account. The owner reserve is 0.2 XRP for each object the account owns on the ledger, such as a trust line for a token, an open offer, an escrow, a check, a payment channel, an NFT page or offer, a ticket or a signer list. The figures are set by validator voting and can change, which is why wallets show a spendable balance below your total. You can get most of the base reserve back by deleting the account, if it meets the deletion conditions; the deletion itself costs at least one owner reserve, currently 0.2 XRP, which is destroyed.

• Account with no objects: 1 XRP locked.
• Account with two trust lines: 1 + 0.2 + 0.2 = 1.4 XRP locked.
• Removing objects you no longer need frees their owner reserve.

XRP transaction fees and speed

Each transaction destroys a small amount of XRP as its transaction cost; it is not paid to anyone. The minimum for a standard transaction is 10 drops, and one XRP is 1,000,000 drops, so that is 0.00001 XRP. The cost rises when the network is under heavy load, and multi-signed transactions cost more, 10 drops times one plus the number of signatures. The ledger destroys whatever amount the Fee field names, even if it is far above the minimum, so check the fee your wallet shows before you confirm. XRPL.org says transactions settle on the ledger in 3 to 5 seconds.

Destination tags in short

A destination tag is a number that tells a shared account, usually an exchange, which customer a payment belongs to. Your own wallet does not need one. If a platform shows an address and a tag, enter both, or the payment can be rejected or left uncredited. Ledger’s XRP page makes the same point: tags are only needed when sending to a centralised exchange. Our XRP destination tag guide covers what happens if you forget one and how to find the tag on an exchange.

Choosing an XRP wallet

XRPL.org lists software and hardware wallets that support XRP and states that it does not endorse any of them, so the descriptions below come from each wallet’s own pages. Install only from the official site or app store.

• Xaman (formerly XUMM): self-custody mobile wallet for the XRP Ledger and Xahau, built by XRPL Labs; iOS and Android; keys stay on your phone, with Tangem cards as a hardware option.
• Ledger: XRP in the Ledger Wallet app (formerly Ledger Live), with keys kept on the device.
• Trezor: XRP in the Trezor Suite app on the Safe 3, Safe 5 and Safe 7.
• Other wallets listed on XRPL.org include Crossmark, Gem Wallet, Joey Wallet, GateHub, Bifrost Wallet and Trust Wallet, and Keystone and D’CENT on the hardware side.
• Choose Xaman if you want a phone wallet made for the XRP Ledger, a hardware wallet if you plan to hold a larger amount.

Receiving XRP from a swap

Copy the r-address from your wallet’s receive screen and paste it into the payout field, then compare the first and last characters. Leave the destination tag field empty for your own wallet; for an exchange, copy its tag exactly. If the address is brand new, the payout is its first payment, so it has to deliver at least the base reserve of 1 XRP to create the account, and that 1 XRP then stays locked in the account as its reserve for as long as the account exists. Your wallet will show the full amount received and a spendable balance 1 XRP lower. VeriSwap pays the payout network fee, and the receive amount shown already includes the 0.5% service fee and stays fixed for 15 minutes.

• XMR → XRP: paste an r-address, plus the exchange’s tag if you receive at an exchange.
• USDT → XRP and BTC → XRP payouts work the same way.
• An existing account already holds its reserve, so the whole payout is spendable.

Sending XRP to VeriSwap

Create the order first, then send exactly the amount shown to the deposit address on the order page within the 15-minute quote window. VeriSwap’s XRP deposit address needs no destination tag, so leave any tag field in your wallet or exchange form empty. Send from your spendable balance: a payment that tries to use the reserve fails with tecUNFUNDED_PAYMENT, and your wallet pays the small transaction cost. The operator checks each deposit by hand before sending the payout, and every step is logged in the activity log on your private order page. There is no account and no sign-up; save the order reference.

• XRP → USDT: send XRP, receive USDT on Ethereum, TRON or Solana.
• XRP → BTC: send XRP, receive bitcoin at a 1…, 3… or bc1… address.
• Minimum order: 50 USD in value.

How to check a payout in an XRP Ledger explorer

XRPL.org lists several explorers, including the XRPL Explorer run by Ripple at livenet.xrpl.org, Bithomp and XRPScan. Copy the payout transaction hash from your order page and search for it. The transaction record shows the sender and receiver addresses, the amount, the fee, whether it succeeded and which ledger it is in, and the destination tag if one was used. You can also search your own address to see its balance and history. If the explorer shows the payment but your wallet does not, refresh the wallet or check that you are looking at the right account.

• Compare the receiving address and tag with what you entered on the order.
• Make sure the explorer is on mainnet, not a test network.
• For an exchange payout, send the hash to the exchange if it has not credited you.

Mistakes to avoid

Most XRP problems come from the reserve or the destination tag.

• Sending less than 1 XRP as the first payment to a brand-new address.
• Trying to send your total balance instead of the spendable balance.
• Leaving out an exchange’s destination tag, or putting it in the address field.
• Pasting an X-address where a classic r-address and separate tag are asked for.
• Installing a wallet from a search ad instead of the official site or app store.
• Typing your recovery phrase or secret key anywhere other than the wallet itself.