Why every account keeps a reserve

A small amount of XRP in every account stays put, so the shared ledger doesn't fill up with junk.

Every account must hold a minimum amount of XRP, called the reserve. It protects the shared ledger from growing too large through spam: creating thousands of empty accounts would tie up real XRP.

The reserve has two parts. The base reserve applies to every account. The owner reserve adds a little more for each item the account keeps in the ledger, such as a trust line for a token, an offer on the exchange or an escrow. Remove the item, and that part is freed.

You can't send reserved XRP to anyone else, but it can still pay transaction costs, and deleting an account recovers some of it. The amounts aren't fixed forever: validators can vote to change them.

Exchanges usually keep their customers' XRP in a few shared accounts, which is why a custodial wallet doesn't ask you to cover a reserve.

Sources

Reserves (xrpl.org) (checked 2026-10-22)
Accounts (xrpl.org) (checked 2026-10-22)

General information about how the XRP Ledger works, not financial, legal or tax advice.