Direct XRP Payments

The basis of any financial system is transferring value. The quickest and simplest method on the XRP Ledger is a direct XRP payment from one account to another. Unlike other payment methods that require multiple transactions to complete, a direct XRP payment executes in one transaction with no intermediaries, and typically completes in 8 seconds or less. You can only make direct payments when XRP is the currency sent and received.

Direct XRP Payment Lifecycle

1. The sender creates a Payment transaction, which defines the parameters of the payment. The transaction is a direct XRP payment if XRP is the currency sent and received.

2. Transaction processing checks the parameters and circumstances of the transaction; if any check fails, the payment fails.

   • All fields are formatted correctly.
   • The sending address is a funded account in the XRP Ledger.
   • All provided signatures are valid for the sending address.
   • The destination address is different than the sending address.
   • The sender has a high enough XRP balance to send the payment.

3. Transaction processing checks the receiving address; if any check fails, the payment fails.

   • If the receiving address is funded, the engine makes additional checks based on their settings, such as Deposit Authorization.
   • If the receiving address isn't funded, it checks if the payment will deliver enough XRP to meet the minimum account reserve requirement. If the reserve is met, a new account is created for the address and its starting balance is the amount received.

4. The ledger debits and credits the corresponding accounts.

   Note

   The sender is also debited the XRP transaction cost.

See Also

• Tutorials:
  • Send XRP (Interactive Tutorial)
  • Monitor Incoming Payments with WebSocket
• References:
  • Payment transaction
  • Transaction Results
  • account_info method - for checking XRP balances