Question:

How do I burn IOTA?

Iota

Noah: 18 May 2022

Regardless of why I'd want to do this, I'd like to know how.

Are there any specific "burn addresses" that are reserved for this? Or is there a technique I can use to guarantee the IOTA are destroyed?

(For comparison: In Ethereum you can send ether to a special smart contract that self-destructs.)

Answer:
Emma: 18 May 2022

There is no way to really burn IOTAs. But you can send IOTAs to an address to which nobody has the private key to:

  • AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA (https://thetangle.org/address/AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA)
    this address already has 5 IOTAs. They are basically destroyed now because the chances that somebody will ever find out the private key to this address are vanishingly small.

If you want to burn your IOTA for a specific reason, you could send them to an address like

  • BURNING9IOTAS9BECAUSE9I9HAVE9TOO9MANY9ANYWAY9999999999999999999999999999999999999
    Everybody seraching for that address in a Tangle explorer would know that you burnt the IOTAs and for what reason you did it. (e.g. proof to ICO participants that you are not keeping their money)