What changes and what cannot
3 minDifficulty Checked 2026-11-10- NFTokenModify changes one field: the URI.
- The NFT's ID, issuer, taxon, flags and transfer fee never change.
- A modify does not move the NFT. The holder keeps it.
"Dynamic" sounds like anything could change. It cannot. One thing can change, and the rest is locked.
What the issuer can change: the URI. That is the pointer to the artwork or data.
What nobody can change:
- The NFT's ID.
- Who issued it.
- Which collection it belongs to (the taxon).
- Its transfer fee.
- Its flags, including whether the issuer can burn it.
- Who owns it. A modify never moves the NFT out of your account.
So a dynamic NFT is still the same token before and after an update. It can look different. It cannot become a different item, change its fee or jump to another collection.
One more detail matters to collectors. The issuer can update the URI while you hold the NFT. You are not asked, and you do not sign anything. The issuer can also remove the URI and leave it empty.
A note on standard NFTs. A fixed URI does not always mean fixed art. If the URI is a link to a web server, the server's owner can change the file behind the link. The ledger only stores the pointer. Decentralized storage such as IPFS is another option issuers use.
Scope of NFTokenModify. The transaction has three fields of its own: NFTokenID, optional Owner and optional URI. It has no field for flags, fee, taxon or issuer.
The reason is the NFTokenID layout:
| Part of the ID | Can change? |
|---|---|
| Flags (16 bits) | No |
| Transfer fee (16 bits) | No |
| Issuer (160 bits) | No |
| Taxon (32 bits) | No |
| Sequence (32 bits) | No |
XLS-46 states that anything inside the NFTokenID must not be mutated. The URI is stored beside the ID in the NFToken object, not inside it.
Ownership. NFTokenModify edits the NFToken where it sits, on the holder's NFTokenPage. The Owner field only tells the ledger whose page to look in. The NFT is not transferred.
Clearing the URI. If URI is omitted, the existing URI is deleted from the NFT.
The URI limit. The same rules as at mint apply: up to 256 bytes, hex encoded, not checked for validity.
Static NFTs and off-ledger data. For an NFT without flagMutable, the URI is immutable. What it points to depends on where the payload is stored. xrpl.org lists three options: on the ledger in a data: URL, on decentralized storage such as IPFS or Arweave, or on a web server the issuer runs. XLS-46 describes issuers using website endpoints to mimic dynamic NFTs before the amendment existed.
Related: Checking a dynamic NFT.
- NFTokenModifyRead 2026-11-10
- XLS-46 Dynamic Non Fungible TokensRead 2026-11-10
- NFTokenRead 2026-11-10
- NFT Payload StorageRead 2026-11-10
