{"id":1285,"date":"2026-07-14T11:36:30","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T11:36:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nownodes.io\/blog\/?p=1285"},"modified":"2026-07-14T11:36:32","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T11:36:32","slug":"how-to-track-issued-tokens-on-xrp-using-gateway-balance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nownodes.io\/blog\/how-to-track-issued-tokens-on-xrp-using-gateway-balance\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Identify Dead Tokens on XRP Using Gateway Balances"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

More than 90,000 tokens have been issued on the XRPL, and the vast majority are abandoned, never traded, or outright scams, according to token market data from XRPL.to<\/a>. For anyone auditing an asset, vetting a trust line, or building an analytics tool, the practical question is simple: how do you tell a live token from a dead one? The fastest answer is a single API call. Run the gateway_balances<\/code> method against an issuer, look at what is still in circulation, and confirm it on an XRP explorer. This guide walks that process from the ground up \u2014 what a dead token actually is, why the check matters, and how to run it without maintaining any infrastructure of your own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What Is a “Dead Token” on XRP?<\/h2>\n\n\n

Let’s start with the basics before touching the API. A token on the XRPL is not the same thing as XRP. XRP is the native asset, capped at 100 billion units. Everything else \u2014 every stablecoin, memecoin, and fiat-backed IOU \u2014 is an issued token<\/strong> created by an ordinary account. Anyone can mint one, which is exactly why so many pile up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dead token (XRPL):<\/strong> an issued currency that is no longer economically active \u2014 its issuer has gone quiet, almost nothing remains in circulation, no one is trading it, and in some cases the issuer has frozen it. The token still exists on-ledger, but it no longer functions as a usable asset.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The reason there are tens of thousands of these comes down to how issuance works. Issued tokens have also been called “IOUs” or “trust line tokens,” and the official XRPL documentation<\/a> describes them as balances one account owes another. Creating a token costs the issuer almost nothing, so the ledger accumulates them faster than the market can ever use them.<\/p>\n\n\n

How Tokens Get Issued in the First Place<\/h3>\n\n\n

To hold an issued token, a wallet has to opt in by opening a trust line<\/strong> to the issuer. That opt-in is what stops random tokens from landing in your wallet uninvited \u2014 but it also has a cost. Each account locks a 1 XRP base reserve<\/strong> just to exist, plus 0.2 XRP for every trust line<\/strong> it opens, per the current reserve requirements<\/a> (both figures were reduced in December 2024).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s why that matters for dead tokens. When a project fails, holders often abandon the trust line rather than pay attention to it, and the issuer stops doing anything at all. The token doesn’t get deleted \u2014 it just goes silent. Multiply that by thousands of failed projects and you get a ledger crowded with husks.<\/p>\n\n\n

The Signals That a Token Is Dead<\/h3>\n\n\n
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A dead token gives off a recognizable pattern. No single signal is proof on its own, but together they tell the story:<\/p>\n\n\n\n