Burn
To burn is to remove stablecoin units from circulation, which lowers the token's total supply. In Circle's USDC contract a minter can burn tokens it holds, and the burn subtracts from total supply. Tether's USDT contract on Ethereum calls this redeem: an owner-only function that withdraws tokens from the owner address and lowers total supply. The GENIUS Act lists 'burn' with seize and freeze among actions a lawful order may require of an issuer.
What the sources say
| Source | Quote | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Circle FiatTokenV1.sol: burn | "@notice Allows a minter to burn some of its own tokens." | GitHub |
| Circle FiatTokenV1.sol: burn lowers totalSupply | "totalSupply_ = totalSupply_.sub(_amount); _setBalance(msg.sender, balance.sub(_amount)); emit Burn(msg.sender, _amount);" | GitHub |
| TetherToken source on Etherscan: redeem | "// Redeem tokens. // These tokens are withdrawn from the owner address" | Etherscan |
| TetherToken source: redeem lowers total supply | "_totalSupply -= amount; balances[owner] -= amount; Redeem(amount);" | Etherscan |
| GENIUS Act, sec. 2(16): lawful order | "requires a person to seize, freeze, burn, or prevent the transfer of payment stablecoins issued by the person" | govinfo.gov |
Related terms
See also
- Data: Stablecoin mint and burn: net issuance
- Explainer: What is a mint or a burn, and why isn't it a payment?
- Review: revain.org/coins/usdc/
- Review: revain.org/coins/usdt/
Checked against the sources on 2026-11-01.