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Accounts & Keys

An XRPL account is an entry in the ledger identified by a classic address (starts with "r") or an X-address (starts with "X", which encodes both address and destination tag).

Activation

Accounts must be "activated" by receiving at least the base reserve (currently 10 XRP) from an existing account. Before activation, the address exists as a key pair but has no ledger entry. Sonde shows the activation transaction, funder, and date in the Ancestry tab.

Reserves

The XRPL requires accounts to hold a minimum XRP balance. The base reserve (10 XRP) keeps the account alive. Each owned object (trust line, offer, escrow, NFT page, etc.) adds an owner reserve (2 XRP). An account with 5 trust lines and 2 open offers needs 10 + (7 x 2) = 24 XRP minimum. Sonde shows the reserve breakdown in the account hero stats.

Key types

  • ▸Master key — the key pair generated when the account was created. Can be disabled but never changed.
  • ▸Regular key — an alternative key pair that can sign transactions. Can be changed or removed at any time. Useful for key rotation without changing the address.
  • ▸Multi-signing — a set of accounts that can collectively authorize transactions with a weighted quorum. Sonde shows multi-signature transactions with a signer count badge on the transaction detail page.

Destination tags

A destination tag is a 32-bit integer attached to a payment. Exchanges and services use them to identify which customer a deposit belongs to when many customers share one XRP address. On Sonde, you can search rAddress:12345 to filter an account's transactions by destination tag.