Token Burn
Burning permanently removes AET from circulation. Burned tokens are gone for good: they cannot be re-emitted or recovered. AETRON uses burning narrowly, which is what keeps the supply fixed and predictable.
Burning vs Recycling
These two are easy to confuse, so it helps to keep them apart.
- Recycled AET is temporarily removed from circulation and returned to the emission pool, where it is paid out again later. Registration fees and transaction fees are recycled, not destroyed. See Token Recycling.
- Burned AET is destroyed permanently and leaves the total supply for good.
This distinction is what separates AETRON from networks that burn their token on every fee. Because AETRON recycles fees instead of burning them, the supply stays at its fixed cap of 33 million AET rather than shrinking over time.
When AET Is Burned
Burning is reserved for one main case: penalizing fraud.
A miner that is caught producing fraudulent or unverifiable work can lose part of its stake through slashing, and slashed stake is burned. See Attack Resistance for the fraud strategies this is aimed at. This is different from ordinary unstaking, where stake is locked but fully returned after a cooldown. The threat of a permanent loss is what makes cheating economically irrational: an attacker risks destroying real value, while honest work always earns.
What Is Not Burned
To avoid the common confusion:
- Registration fees (creating a Neuronet, registering a miner) are recycled, not burned.
- Transaction fees are recycled, not burned. See Transaction Fees.
- Ordinary stake is locked while staked and returned after the cooldown; it is never burned just for unstaking.
Why It Matters
- Fixed supply. Limiting burning to slashing means routine network activity does not shrink the supply, keeping the 33M cap meaningful.
- Honest behavior. Burning slashed stake gives fraud a real, permanent cost.
- Predictability. Holders can reason about supply without worrying that everyday fees quietly destroy tokens.