A simpler token

The XRP Ledger's first kind of token lives on trust lines. A trust line is a two-way link between two accounts. Either side can owe the other. Balances can pass through people on the way to someone else. That design fits a web of people who extend credit to each other. For a company that only wants to hand out a token, it brings many surprises.

Multi-Purpose Tokens, or MPTs, are the second kind. They work the way most people expect a token to work:

• One side issues. The other side holds. The roles never swap.
• Tokens move from holder to holder directly. Nothing ripples through anyone.
• A balance is a whole number of units, never negative.
• The issuer writes the token's rules once, in one place on the ledger. Anyone can read them.

One thing stays the same as with trust lines. Nobody can push an MPT on you. You opt in first, then you can receive it.

An issuer cannot hold its own MPT. Tokens sent back to the issuer are burned.

MPTs are newer, and they do not do everything yet. They cannot be traded on the DEX today. Trust line tokens still fit better for some jobs. xrpl.org expects both types to be supported for the foreseeable future.

The MPTokensV1 amendment (XLS-33) was enabled on mainnet on 2025-10-01.

Identity. An MPT Issuance ID looks like 00070C4495F14B0E44F78A264E41713C64B5F89242540EE255534400000000000000. It is not meant for display. A ticker and name can be set in metadata, but nothing makes them unique or even present. Match on the ID, not the ticker.

Two ledger entries

• MPTokenIssuance: owned by the issuer. Holds the rules and the OutstandingAmount in circulation.
• MPToken: owned by a holder. Holds that account's MPTAmount for one issuance.

Size. XLS-33 puts an MPToken at about 52 bytes, against at least 234 bytes for a new trust line.

Amounts. In transactions an MPT amount is an object with mpt_issuance_id and an integer value as a string. Decimal places are a display matter, set by the issuance's AssetScale.

When trust line tokens still fit better, per xrpl.org:

• The token must trade on the DEX.
• The use case is community credit.
• Legacy software already handles trust lines.
• One token must represent both huge and tiny quantities.

For most other new tokens, xrpl.org prefers MPTs.

MPTs do support partial payments, so the same care with delivered_amount applies.

Related: Trust lines and issued tokens, Issuing and holding.