XRP Ledger Namespace - Addresses

CAIP-10

For context, see the CAIP-10 specification.

Rationale

In CAIP-10, a string-based general account address scheme is defined. XRPL supports two address formats:

Classic Addresses (r-addresses)

Classic XRPL addresses are identified by an address in the XRP Ledger’s base58btc encoding. The address is derived from an account’s master public key. A classic XRPL address is a string with the following characteristics:

• It is between 25 and 35 characters long, inclusive.
• It starts with the character r.
• It uses alphanumerical characters excluding number 0, lowercase letter "l" and capital letters ["O", "I"].
• It is case-sensitive.
• It includes a 4-byte checksum making the probability of generating a valid address from random characters approximately 1 in 2³².
• It may optionally include a destination tag in the form of a 32-bit unsigned integer appended with a hyphen (-) separator.

X-Addresses

X-addresses are a newer format that encode both the destination address and an optional destination tag into a single string. An X-address has the following characteristics:

• It starts with the character X
• It uses base58 encoding (same character set as r-addresses)
• It is case-sensitive
• It encodes both the classic address and destination tag in a single value
• It includes a checksum for validation

Syntax

The account_id is a case-sensitive string in the form: ~~~~

account_id:        chain_id + ":" + account_address
chain_id:          See [CAIP-2][]
account_address:   classic_address | x_address
classic_address:   r[1-9a-hj-zA-HJ-NP-Z]{24,34} + optional_tag
optional_tag:      ("-" + [0-9]{1-10})?
x_address:         X[1-9a-hj-zA-HJ-NP-Z]{46,47}

Semantics

The chain_id is specified by the CAIP-2 which describes the blockchain id.

The account_address represents an account on the XRPL and can be expressed in two formats:

1. Classic Address (r-address): A base58-encoded address optionally followed by a destination tag. The destination tag is a numeric identifier (0 to 2^32-1) used to identify a specific recipient or purpose at the destination address. When included, the tag is separated from the address by a hyphen (-).

2. X-Address: A compact format that encodes both the classic address and destination tag (if any) into a single base58-encoded string starting with X. X-addresses eliminate the need for separate tag handling and reduce user error.

Test Cases

This is a list of manually composed examples

# Livenet classic address (without tag)
xrpl:0:r4FTvnahbUfhe1WK2EK5Jz4cNvdFvT8Dzt

# Testnet classic address (without tag)
xrpl:1:rEBakx2WdNsmRb5tm5KmhsqKAqvLJrRoiU

# Devnet classic address (without tag)
xrpl:2:rUgna78QFFeixu8v9ZqwtViWnknXYtHG2X

# Classic address with destination tag
xrpl:0:rPEPPER7kfTD9w2To4CQk6UCfuHM9c6GDY-495

# X-address (Livenet)
xrpl:0:XV5sbjUmgPpvXv4ixFWZ5ptAYZ6PD2q1qM6owqNbug8W6KV

# X-address (Testnet)
xrpl:1:TVE26TYGhfLC7tQDno7G8dGtxSkYQnSy8W3wYu

Backwards Compatibility

Not applicable

References

• XRPL Address Definition - The explanation of a XRPL Address, what it consists of and what limitations it has.
• XRPL Base58 Encoding - Explains how a public key is encoded to a XRPL address.
• X-Address Format - Specification for the X-address format that encodes both address and destination tag.
• Destination Tags - Explanation of destination tags and their use in XRPL.

Copyright

Copyright and related rights waived via CC0.

Citation

Please cite this document as:

Anton Dalgren, "namespaces/xrpl-caip10: XRP Ledger Namespace - Addresses [DRAFT]," Chain Agnostic Namespaces, xrpl-caip10, February 2023 / . [Online serial]. Available: https://github.com/ChainAgnostic/namespaces/xrpl-caip10.md