Token burns remain a common tool for cryptocurrency projects to adjust circulating supply. In 2026, several major networks reported notable burn activity, providing insight into how supply reductions are measured and their potential impact.
BNB Quarterly Burn
On 19 October 2026, the BNB Foundation announced the completion of its 37th quarterly burn, destroying 1,646,196.44 BNB. At the market price at that time, the destroyed tokens were valued at approximately $1.197 billion. After the burn, BNB’s total supply stood at 131,512,085 BNB, representing about 1.25 % of the post‑burn supply. The long‑term supply target for BNB is 100 million tokens, down from the original 200 million.
Ethereum Fee Burning (EIP‑1559)
Ethereum began burning a portion of transaction fees with the August 2021 London upgrade (EIP‑1559). The base fee of each transaction is permanently destroyed, while the priority fee (tip) is paid to validators. For example, a transaction using 21,000 gas units with a base fee of 10 gwei results in a burn of 0.00021 ETH, worth roughly $0.84 at a $4,000 ETH price. The cumulative effect depends on overall network activity, as issuance to validators continues alongside fee burning.
Other Fee‑Related Burns
Several other networks tie token destruction to transaction fees:
- XRP Ledger destroys a minimum of 0.00001 XRP per transaction, with higher fees during congestion. XRP launched with 100 billion tokens, so fee‑related burns represent a small share of total supply.
- Avalanche permanently removes AVAX used for applicable network fees, while simultaneously issuing new AVAX to reward validators, capped at a maximum issuance of 720 million.
- Solana burns 50 % of its base transaction fee, while priority fees are not burned.
Shiba Inu Community Burns
Shiba Inu (SHIB) started with a supply of one quadrillion tokens. Community‑driven burns can remove large absolute numbers, but the percentage of total supply matters more. For instance, burning one billion SHIB out of a 500 trillion supply would reduce the total by only 0.0002 %.
Understanding Burn Metrics
Raw token counts can be misleading across projects with vastly different supply sizes. Percentages of supply removed provide a clearer comparison. A burn’s effect on market dynamics also depends on whether the destroyed tokens were held in a treasury or purchased from investors, as the latter scenario adds demand alongside supply reduction.
Key Takeaways for Investors
- BNB’s October 2026 burn removed about 1.25 % of its post‑burn supply, moving the token closer to its 100 million target.
- Ethereum’s fee‑burn mechanism can be deflationary when total burns exceed issuance, but the network does not have a fixed maximum supply.
- Fee‑related burns on XRP, Avalanche and Solana are small relative to their overall supplies, and their net impact depends on concurrent token issuance.
- For tokens with extremely large supplies, such as SHIB, the absolute number of burned tokens may be high while the percentage impact remains minimal.
Investors should verify burn transactions on-chain, review each project’s supply rules, and assess whether the reduction is material relative to total supply and future issuance.
