XRP Ledger proposal would let sponsors fund zero-XRP wallets

A proposal submitted on October 15, 2026, would let developers create zero-XRP wallets on the XRP Ledger by having another account pay the required reserve. The change would allow payment apps and automated software to start wallets without depositing XRP into each one, but it would shift the reserve cost to a sponsor, not eliminate it.

Key takeaways

• SponsoredAccountCreate would move account reserve funding to a sponsor.
• Sponsorship would also let applications pay users’ transaction fees without holding their private keys.
• The required amendment remains inactive, with 11 of 29 approval votes recorded on October 19.

How XRP Ledger wallets would start with zero XRP

The proposed SponsoredAccountCreate transaction would let an existing account create a separate account and fund its reserve. That would leave the newly created wallet with no XRP balance.

Today, each XRP Ledger account requires a minimum reserve of 1 XRP, locked for as long as the account remains active. The requirement helps prevent spam by discouraging the creation of empty wallets.

At that rate, a business opening 100,000 accounts would have to reserve 100,000 XRP before accounting for other network costs. Under the proposal, the sponsor would bear that obligation rather than each customer. Zero-XRP wallets on the XRP Ledger would therefore retain reserve backing, even though their own balances would be empty.

Sponsors could pay fees without holding users’ keys

The broader sponsorship mechanism would also allow applications to pay transaction charges for their users without gaining control of their private keys.

SponsoredAccountCreate builds on the Sponsored Fees and Reserves standard, which lets a separate account cover network costs. The proposed addition would handle account creation directly, without transferring XRP to the new wallet.

For payment applications and automated software, the combination would remove the need to put XRP into every user wallet for reserves and fees. Those costs would instead sit with the sponsoring account.

Ripple and Privy’s embedded-wallet use case

Ripple’s partnership with Stripe-owned Privy illustrates the intended payment use case: embedded wallets supporting XRP and Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin, including automated transactions by AI agents.

These wallets currently require XRP funding to activate, even if their intended purpose is only to hold stablecoins. The proposed zero-XRP wallets on the XRP Ledger would allow sponsors to meet that activation requirement without users first acquiring XRP.

Validator approval and code review remain pending

SponsoredAccountCreate remains an open pull request with two unresolved automated code-review findings. It also relies on sponsorship changes that have not activated on mainnet and still require validator approval.

According to XRPL Dashboard, the sponsorship amendment had received 11 of the 29 votes required from trusted validators as of October 19, 2026.

Article produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence and reviewed by the editorial team.