Community opposes lower XRPL reserve, says security should come first

Amid an ongoing debate over lowering the XRP Ledger’s reserve requirement, members of the community have voiced opposition, arguing that security should take priority. VET, an XRPL validator, said on X that the XRP Ledger required a base reserve of 1,000 XRP to create an account in 2012, when the structure was closer to an account-creation fee than today’s partially refundable reserve. After the reserve was lowered to 200 XRP, the current system took shape, VET said, adding the reserve was designed to protect network resources such as storage and memory from spam and DDoS attacks. VET also said the reserve remains important for the network as storage and memory costs are still high, particularly with the spread of AI. VET said the current base reserve for an XRPL account is 1 XRP, while holding RLUSD or USDC requires a 0.2 XRP reserve. Although VET said there had previously been support for lowering the reserve because of XRP’s price increase and better server performance, any further reduction should not proceed without evidence that the same level of security can be maintained. VET also argued claims that a $1 reserve is blocking user adoption are groundless, adding that if users find even a mostly refundable cost at account closure burdensome, the bigger reasons they are not choosing XRPL should be addressed first.