How an XRP Transaction Works, Step by Step

A beginner-friendly walkthrough of exactly what happens when you send XRP, from clicking "send" to final settlement.

This page walks through what actually happens, technically, when you send XRP — useful background before diving into the more detailed Technology section.

Step 1: You construct a transaction

Using a wallet app (see Wallets Overview), you specify the destination address, the amount, and — if sending to an exchange or service that requires one — a destination tag. Your wallet also automatically fills in some required technical fields: your account's current sequence number, the network fee you're willing to pay, and a reference to a recent ledger version.

Step 2: You sign it

Your wallet uses your private key (see Addresses, Key Pairs, and Cryptography) to cryptographically sign the transaction. This signature proves the transaction was authorized by whoever controls that account's key, without ever exposing the private key itself to the network.

Step 3: It's broadcast to the network

Your wallet submits the signed transaction to a rippled server (either one it runs itself, or a public/third-party node), which relays it to its peers, who relay it to theirs — propagating the transaction across the network within a fraction of a second.

Step 4: Validators include it in a proposal

As described in XRP Ledger Consensus Protocol, validators gather pending transactions they've seen — including yours — into a candidate set, and begin the consensus round to agree on which transactions to include in the next ledger version.

Step 5: Consensus is reached

Over several rapid rounds of proposal and voting among trusted validators, the network converges on an agreed transaction set. If your transaction is valid (correct signature, sufficient balance, correct sequence number, and so on), it's included.

Step 6: The ledger closes

Once consensus is reached — typically within 3 to 5 seconds of your original submission — the new ledger version closes. Your transaction is now final: the recipient's balance has been updated, and this cannot be reversed or reorganized the way an unconfirmed transaction on some other networks still could be.

Step 7: You (and anyone else) can verify it

The completed transaction, along with its result and the exact amount delivered, is now permanently part of the public ledger, viewable by anyone via a block explorer using the transaction's unique hash.

What makes this fast

Compare this to a proof-of-work chain, where "step 4 and 5" would instead involve miners competing to solve a computational puzzle, and true finality would require waiting for several subsequent blocks to be mined on top — a process that takes much longer and never becomes fully, absolutely final in the same immediate sense. The XRPL's validator-voting approach (see XRP vs. Bitcoin) is what makes the seconds-not-minutes settlement time possible.