Former Principal Developer Advocate at Ripple, Matt Hamilton, has suggested that Ripple could burn all of the XRP tokens currently stored in its escrow wallets if it chooses to do so. Hamilton explained that Ripple could disable the master key for the accounts that are programmed to receive the escrowed tokens when they are released, rendering them inaccessible to anyone, including Ripple.

This disclosure came after a debate was triggered by the SEC vs. LBRY lawsuit, with some parties claiming that neither the court nor the SEC can make Ripple burn the escrowed tokens. However, others pointed out that XRPL validators could vote to burn the tokens if a consensus is reached.