proof of burn

noun

A process for verification on a blockchain that requires the destruction (“burning”) of tokens.

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Meanings

nounproof of burn (plural proofs of burn)

plural proofs of burn

  1. businessA process for verification on a blockchain that requires the destruction (“burning”) of tokens.

    Proof of burn is used to destroy (burn) coins. To burn bitcoins means to send those bitcoins to a verifiable yet nonspendable address.

    2015, David Lee Kuo Chuen, Handbook of Digital Currency: Bitcoin, Innovation, Financial Instruments, and Big Data, Academic Press, →ISBN, page 47
    1 more example

    The third approach to ensure the integrity of a blockchain is proof of burn, first used by Counterparty. The Counterparty tokens, XCP, were distributed proportionally to everyone who destroyed bitcoins by sending them to an unrecoverable address during the proof-of-burn period in January 2014, see counterparty.io.

    2017, David Lee Kuo Chuen, Robert H. Deng, editors, Handbook of Blockchain, Digital Finance, and Inclusion, volume 1, Academic Press, →ISBN, page 151
Cite this entry
APA

proof of burn. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/proof%20of%20burn

MLA

“proof of burn.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/proof%20of%20burn. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “proof of burn,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/proof%20of%20burn.

Source: proof of burn on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.