Overview

Burning is the process of permanently removing stablecoin tokens from circulation in exchange for fiat currency. Each burn order reduces the total token supply by an amount equal to the redeemed value, preserving the 1:1 relationship between issued tokens and backing reserves.

You can redeem your stable coins for fiat currency by submitting a burn order request from your Go Account. Once you initiate a burn order request, BitGo validates the transaction on-chain, following successful decommissioning of the tokens. The corresponding fiat currency deposits into your Go Account balance.

All burn orders are subject to validation, authorization, and reconciliation controls to ensure that token supplies and reserve balances remain aligned throughout the redemption process.

Note

When transacting from Go Accounts, ensure ticker symbols use the ofc prefix, which denotes the tokenized asset is off chain. When transacting from bank accounts, ensure ticker symbols use the fiat prefix. To learn more, see Asset Ticker Symbols.

Prerequisites

Burn Order Lifecycle

A burn order lifecycle tracks your request from the initial stablecoin deposit to the delivery of fiat currency in your Go Account. The diagram below provides a high-level overview of the stages a burn order progresses through from initiation to final fulfillment.

Burn Order Burn Order

Note

Your burn order requests go into processing and are fulfilled on average under two hours. However, burn orders of high-value increase processing time.

Burn Status Lifecycle

Status Description
created Initial state when a burn order is first submitted. Waiting to fund burn order with tokens.
confirmed_token_deposit Token deposit is successfully verified in the designated burn address.
triggering_burn Burn order is currently initiating the blockchain transaction to destroy the tokens.
completed_burn Tokens permanently removed from circulation on-chain.
approved_client_disbursal Fiat payout approved and authorized.
initiated_client_disbursal Fiat payout transfer initiated.
fulfilled Fiat is successfully disbursed and the redemption is complete.
failed_burn_transaction An error occurred while attempting to initiate the burn order.
failed_to_burn The blockchain burn transaction failed or rejected.
failed_to_initiate_disbursal An error occurred while trying to process the fiat payout.
failed_to_complete_disbursal The fiat payment processed but failed to complete.

Cookbook

Need just the steps? Expand the cookbook below to get started:

Burn StablecoinsOpen Cookbook

1. List Available Stablecoins

View a comprehensive list of all stablecoins available for burning.

The following example passes the testnet base URL and returns testnet asset IDs. To see production asset IDs, call the production base URL (https://app.bitgo.com).

Endpoint: List Supported Stablecoins

export ACCESS_TOKEN="<YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN>"

curl -X GET \
  https://app.bitgo-test.com/api/stablecoin/v1/assets \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ACCESS_TOKEN"

Step Result

You receive treasuryAccountWalletId values. Save this for use in the following step.

[
  {
    "id": "08c1271e-b15d-4af8-8929-f75383903da4",
    "token": "tfiatusd",
    "name": "Testnet US Dollar",
    "decimals": 2,
  },
  {
    "id": "bfd0daec-f849-4b96-bdb6-6373bffeb9b6",
    "token": "tbsc:usd1",
    "name": "Testnet BSC USD1",
    "decimals": 18,
    "chain": "tbsc",
    "backingAsset": "tfiatusd",
    "treasuryAccountWalletId": "67c1a025f9999f485f7a71aa26a1da4c"
  },
  {
    "id": "49ff49ea-3355-4717-bbb0-5e8f5cae2202",
    "token": "hteth:gousd",
    "name": "Testnet goUSD",
    "decimals": 6,
    "chain": "hteth",
    "backingAsset": "tfiatusd",
    "treasuryAccountWalletId": "6698e670115059e2efe672436a3aea3b"
  }
]

2. Get Treasury Wallet ID

Locate the treasuryAccountWalletId field within the stablecoin asset object returned by the List Supported Stablecoins. This UUID represents the destination treasury wallet required for the redeem requests.

3. Calculate Redeem Amount

When initiating a redemption, the amount of stablecoins to be burned must be expressed in the token's native Base Units. Because stablecoins typically utilize higher precision (6 or 18 decimals), the resulting integer will be significantly larger.

Formula: Base Units = Amount * 10Decimals

Example (Stablecoin): A redemption of 100 stablecoin tokens occurs for an asset with 6 decimals:

  • Amount: 100
  • Decimals: 6
  • Calculation: 100 * 10⁶ = 100,000,000
  • Result: 100,000,000 base units
# Calculate programmatically  
DECIMALS=6  # From assets API response for stablecoin
AMOUNT_BASE_UNITS=$(($AMOUNT_IN_FULL_UNITS * 10**$DECIMALS))
echo "Amount in base units: $AMOUNT_BASE_UNITS"

4. Create Burn Order

By submitting a burn order, you are creating a "Pending" record that BitGo uses to track the movement of stablecoin tokens for fiat currency.

Endpoint: Create Stablecoin Order

export ENTERPRISE_ID="<ENTERPRISE_ID>"
export ACCESS_TOKEN="<YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN>"
export SOURCE_WALLET_ID="<SOURCE_WALLET_ID>"
export DESTINATION_WALLET_ID="<DESTINATION_WALLET_ID>"
export FROM_ASSET_ID="<FROM_ASSET_ID>"  # The stablecoin asset from in Step 1
export TO_ASSET_ID="<FROM_ASSET_ID>"    # The fiat asset ID in Step 1
export FROM_AAMOUNT="<FROM_AAMOUNT>"

curl -X POST \
  https://app.bitgo-test.com/api/stablecoin/v1/enterprise/$ENTERPRISE_ID/order \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ACCESS_TOKEN" \
  -d '{
    "sourceWalletId": "'"$SOURCE_WALLET_ID"'",
    "destinationWalletId": "'"$DESTINATION_WALLET_ID"'",
    "destinationType": "go_account",
    "fromAssetId": "'"$FROM_ASSET_ID"'",
    "toAssetId": "'"$TO_ASSET_ID"'"",
    "fromAmount": "'"$FROM_AMOUNT"'",
    "type": "burn"
  }'

5. Transfer Stablecoin to BitGo

BitGo Express is required to sign the transaction and process the burn order request. The following example shows the minimum required parameters for sending an asset.

Endpoint: Send Transaction

export BITGO_EXPRESS_HOST="<YOUR_LOCAL_HOST>"
export COIN="<ASSET_ID>"
export WALLET_ID="<YOUR_WALLET_ID>"
export ACCESS_TOKEN="<YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN>"
export ADDRESS="<DESTINATION_ADDRESS>"
export AMOUNT="<AMOUNT>"
export WALLET_PASSPHRASE="<YOUR_WALLET_PASSPHRASE>"
export SEQUENCE_ID="<ORDER_ID>"

curl -X POST \
  http://$BITGO_EXPRESS_HOST/api/v2/$COIN/wallet/$WALLET_ID/sendcoins \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ACCESS_TOKEN" \
  -d '{
    "address": "'"$ADDRESS"'",
    "amount": "'"$AMOUNT"'",
    "walletPassphrase": "'"$WALLET_PASSPHRASE"'",
    "sequenceId": "'"$SEQUENCE_ID"'"    # ID from the Create Burn Order results
}'

6. Check Order Status

Retrieves the real-time status and detailed metadata for a specific burn order.

Endpoint: Stablecoin Order by ID

export ENTERPRISE_ID="<ENTERPRISE_ID>"
export ORDER_ID="<YOUR_ORDER_ID>"
export ACCESS_TOKEN="<YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN>"

curl -X GET \
  https://app.bitgo-test.com/api/stablecoin/v1/enterprise/$ENTERPRISE_ID/orders/$ORDER_ID \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ACCESS_TOKEN"

Step Result

{
  "id": "order_id_12345",
  "type": "burn",
  "status": "fulfilled",
  "fromAssetId": "usd_asset_id",
  "toAssetId": "stablecoin_asset_id",
  "fromAmount": "10000",
  "toAmount": "100000000"
}

See Also