The XRP Ledger has a two-tier fee system designed to handle variable network load gracefully: the base transaction cost and the open ledger cost.
Base Transaction Cost
The base cost (currently 10 drops) is the absolute minimum. Any transaction below this threshold will be rejected outright by XRPL servers, even under zero network load.
Open Ledger Cost
When many transactions compete to enter the current open ledger, the network enforces an escalating open ledger cost. This is measured in fee levels (proportional units) rather than absolute XRP amounts. The open ledger cost rises quickly as a ledger fills, ensuring that only the highest-priority transactions get included immediately.
Transaction Queuing
Transactions that meet the base cost but not the open ledger cost are queued rather than rejected. The server estimates whether the transaction is likely to be included in a subsequent ledger and places it in queue accordingly. This prevents wasted effort while protecting the network.
Fee Levels
Fee levels allow fair comparison between transactions with different inherent costs. A multi-signed transaction has a higher base cost, so it pays proportionally more to achieve the same fee level as a standard payment. The reference level is 256 fee levels for a standard transaction at minimum cost.
Practical Implications
For most users and applications, the standard 10-drop fee is sufficient even during moderate congestion. During extreme DeFi surges (as seen in early 2025), fees temporarily escalated but returned to baseline within hours as traffic normalized.
Must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system, and expound the actual teachings of the great explorer of the truth, the master-builder of human happiness. No one rejects, dislikes, or avoids pleasure itself, because it is pleasure, but because those who do not know how to pursue pleasure rationally encounter consequences that are extremely painful. Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances.
No one rejects, dislikes, or avoids pleasure itself, because it is pleasure, but because those who do not know how to pursue pleasure rationally encounter consequences that are extremely painful. Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself because it is painse
March 2026
Fee Burn
March 2026
