Burn Mechanism
A burn mechanism is a deliberate protocol design that permanently removes a portion of the native token supply from circulation. This is often achieved by sending tokens to an inaccessible address or by programmatically destroying them during specific network events, such as transaction fee payments.
By reducing the total supply, the protocol aims to create upward pressure on the token price, assuming demand remains constant or grows. This is a common strategy in decentralized finance to balance inflation and provide value accrual to long-term token holders.
It shifts the economic model from purely inflationary mining rewards to a more sustainable, usage-based model. This mechanism is central to the governance and economic sustainability of many modern blockchain protocols.