Burn
Permanently removing tokens from circulation by sending them to an address no one can spend from, shrinking supply.
To burn tokens is to destroy them on purpose. The usual method sends coins to a 'burn address' — a valid address with no known private key, so anything sent there is locked forever and effectively gone. Total supply drops, and the reduction is verifiable on-chain by anyone who checks.
Projects burn for different reasons. Ethereum burns part of every gas fee, which can make ETH deflationary when the network is busy. Some teams run scheduled buyback-and-burns to support price. Stablecoin and wrapped-token systems mint and burn constantly to match supply to reserves. A burn can be sound economics or pure theater — look at whether it changes real scarcity.
Related terms
The total cost to run an Ethereum transaction, found by multiplying the gas used by the price per unit.
Total SupplyEvery token that currently exists, including locked and reserved coins but excluding any that have been burned.
Circulating SupplyThe number of coins actually available and trading in the market, excluding locked, reserved, or unreleased tokens.
TokenomicsThe economic design of a token — its supply, distribution, and incentives — that shapes whether it can hold value.