How to Burn Fungible Tokens on Solana

Burn fungible tokens to permanently remove them from circulation on the Solana blockchain.

Burn Tokens

In the following section you can find a full code example and the parameters that you might have to change. Burning tokens permanently destroys them—this action cannot be undone.

1// To install all the required packages use the following command
2// npm install @metaplex-foundation/mpl-toolbox @metaplex-foundation/umi @metaplex-foundation/umi-bundle-defaults
3import {
4    burnToken,
5    findAssociatedTokenPda,
6} from '@metaplex-foundation/mpl-toolbox';
7import {
8    keypairIdentity,
9    publicKey,
10} from '@metaplex-foundation/umi';
11import { createUmi } from '@metaplex-foundation/umi-bundle-defaults';
12import { readFileSync } from 'fs';
13
14// Initialize Umi with Devnet endpoint
15const umi = createUmi('https://api.devnet.solana.com')
16
17// Load your wallet/keypair
18const wallet = '<your wallet file path>'
19const secretKey = JSON.parse(readFileSync(wallet, 'utf-8'))
20const keypair = umi.eddsa.createKeypairFromSecretKey(new Uint8Array(secretKey))
21umi.use(keypairIdentity(keypair))
22
23// Your token mint address
24const mintAddress = publicKey('<your token mint address>')
25
26// Find the token account to burn from
27const tokenAccount = findAssociatedTokenPda(umi, {
28  mint: mintAddress,
29  owner: umi.identity.publicKey,
30})
31
32// Burn 100 tokens
33await burnToken(umi, {
34  account: tokenAccount,
35  mint: mintAddress,
36  amount: 100,
37}).sendAndConfirm(umi)
38
39console.log('Burned 100 tokens')
40console.log('Mint:', mintAddress)
41console.log('Token Account:', tokenAccount)

Parameters

Customize these parameters for your burn operation:

Parameter	Description
`mintAddress`	The token mint address
`amount`	Number of tokens to burn

How It Works

The burn process involves two steps:

Find your token account - Locate your token account using findAssociatedTokenPda
Burn tokens - Execute the burn with burnToken

When to Burn Tokens

Common use cases for burning tokens include:

Reducing supply - Decrease total circulating supply
Deflationary mechanics - Implement tokenomics that reduce supply over time
Error correction - Remove tokens minted by mistake

Important Notes

Burning is permanent and cannot be reversed
You can only burn tokens that you own
The amount should account for decimals (e.g., for 9 decimals, burning 1 token requires amount: 1_000_000_000)