Hive has been around since March 20, 2020. Let's take a look at how we are doing when it comes to burning HIVE, with data updated through August 29, 2026.
The initial option that was built-in for burning HIVE was the promote option. On the old chain there was a promote section tab, that was mainly not used by almost anyone. Now this tab is no longer on Hive.Blog so the initial idea for burning HIVE is not available now.
PeakD have developed their own model for promotion and burning HIVE and it seems that it is used a bit. Not on a massive scale though, but yet there is some. Other options for burning HIVE are the cost of creating accounts and communities (3 HIVE) and also for making proposals. In the past there were a few initiatives for burning tokens by setting null as beneficiary on posts like the @burnpost. The main initiative today is still run by @buildawhale, with daily burn posts and voting on the comments. From technical standpoint we can summarize the burning options in three sections:
- Transfers to null
- Null as post beneficiary
- New accounts creation fee
Another big source of burning HIVE can be the HIVE to HBD conversions, but those are two ways and always floating. Lately they have been more inflationary.
The period that we will be looking at here is from 2020 to August 29, 2026. August is a partial month through the 29th.
Transfers to @null Account
Here is the updated breakdown by month for HIVE transferred to null.
The chart is on a monthly level. August 2026 includes data through the 29th. Here we can see that there is one big burn event with transfers to @null in February 2021. The column is even cut out for visibility, while the transfer is close to 200k HIVE. This was a transfer made from the previous account that was used to peg the HBD price. In 2026 transfers became much stronger again. After 496 HIVE in March, they jumped to 1.4k in April and 2.1k in May, then stayed between 755 and 1,015 HIVE from June through August. The average for 2026 is now around 1k HIVE per month, much higher than in 2024-2025, although still tiny next to the 2021 event.
Top Accounts Making Transfers to @null in 2026
Who has been transferring to @null? Here is the chart for 2026 through August 29.
@balaenoptera remains on the top here with around 4.37k HIVE burned, followed by @jacobpeacock with 748 HIVE and @redditposh with 679 HIVE. The lead account is now far ahead, but the rest of the list is broader than it was in March.
Setting @null as Beneficiary
Another way of burning HIVE is setting @null as beneficiary. For those not so familiar with what this means, it basically sends the rewards for that post to @null, burning them.
Here is the updated chart.
The chart is on a monthly basis. August 2026 includes data through the 29th. We can notice the spike in the amounts of HIVE sent to @null as post beneficiary. This is due to the renewed campaign by @buildawhale that is making a daily burn post with multiple comments that can be voted on. Some large stakeholders are using this to burn HIVE. In 2026 the activity strengthened again, with beneficiary burns ranging from 29k to 38k a month between March and August. The highest month so far in 2026 is July with 37.7k HIVE burned. August is already at 34.0k through the 29th, showing that this channel is still the dominant ongoing source of burns.
Top Accounts Setting @null as Beneficiary in 2026
Here is the table for top users that burned HIVE by setting @null as beneficiary in 2026 through August 29.
The @buildawhale account is dominating this chart with around 234k HIVE burned in 2026 through August 29. The campaign now accounts for most of the beneficiary burn. There is a very big drop after this account, with @poshtoken at 7.4k HIVE and @centtoken at 5.3k HIVE.
Account Creation Fees
Another way of burning HIVE is from the creation of HIVE accounts. Here is the updated chart.
The chart is on a monthly basis. August 2026 includes data through the 29th. We can notice the spike in the amounts of HIVE burned from account creation fees back in September - October 2021. In this period Splinterlands created a lot of accounts and burned a lot of HIVE in the process. Close to 2M HIVE was burned in a period of three months. Because these months are so dominant on the chart, the other ones are barely visible.
When we zoom in on 2024-2026 we get this:
This is a bit clearer chart. Account creation fees reached 4.4k HIVE in March 2026, the highest month since 2021, before easing to between 2.1k and 3.1k from April through August. The level is still above most of 2024, but the latest trend is cooling from the March spike.
Top Accounts Burning HIVE from Account Creations Fees in 2026
Here is the table for top users that burned HIVE from account creation in 2026 through August 29.
The @uova account is now on the top here with almost 8k HIVE burned from account creation fees. @hive-recovery follows with 2.4k, while @hivetokenchain and @bumblegateway are both around 1.5k HIVE. All these accounts have used HIVE to create new accounts, and the ranking shows a much stronger lead from one creator than in the March snapshot.
Cumulative HIVE Burned
Here is the updated chart for the HIVE burned by category.
Here we can see the dominance in the burns from the account creation fees in 2021 by Splinterlands and the one big transfer to @null in February 2021 with close to 200k HIVE burned. In 2026 the beneficiary option remains the main ongoing component, while transfers to @null became more visible and account fees had a March spike. This still shows that account creation fees have had the largest one-time potential to burn HIVE.
When we zoom in on 2024-2026 we can see the following chart:
Here is a clearer representation. In 2026 the total monthly burns have mostly been between 34k and 41k HIVE since March, with May and July just above 41k. The beneficiary part is dominant, account creation fees are second, and transfers to @null are small but no longer almost non-existent. August is at 36.8k HIVE through the 29th.
Cumulatively, the share from 2020 looks like this:
The account creation fee is still dominating with a 65% share, down from 69% in the March snapshot. The null beneficiary comes in the second spot with 28%, up from 24%, while transfers to @null remain at 7%. This reflects the strong beneficiary burns in 2026.
If we consider the regular HIVE inflation with millions of new tokens created per month, plus the conversions that can add significant amounts as well, the recent burns of around 40k HIVE per month are still insignificant for the overall supply. From the above we have seen that creating new accounts remains the largest historical source for burning HIVE. While this mostly happened in a one-time spike, it still shows the strongest potential. In the current period, the beneficiary account from curation is the most consistent source, while transfers to @null have picked up but remain third. We just need to onboard users :).
All the best @dalz
