<p>The root account is the account that owns the XRP in the initial ledger.</p>

<p>ACCOUNT_ZERO is an account whose 160-bit identifier is zero. When dealing with a currency/issuer pair, ACCOUNT_ZERO is used as both the currency and the issuer to indicate XRP.</p>

<p>ACCOUNT_ONE is an account whose 160-bit identifier is one. ACCOUNT_ONE is used in cases where no account is applicable but the currency is not XRP. For example, in a ripple balance node between two accounts, the "balance" belongs equally to both accounts and is really a property of the two of them. It has an issuer of ACCOUNT_ONE.</p>

<p>ACCOUNT_ONE is also sometimes used as a flag in internal arithmetic operations to indicate that non-XRP semantics are desired. XRP amounts are stored as integer drops (millionths of an XRP) while other currency's amounts are stored in exponential notation. Sometimes an amount isn't in any particular currency (for example, when outputs and inputs are divided to compute an offer's quality). To indicate non-XRP semantics without having a valid currency, ACCOUNT_ONE is used. It essentially means "not XRP".</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-04-27T22:17:29.023Z
So essentially all the XRP starts out as belonging to the root account and is distributed from there. Does this mean that the root account still owns most of the XRP (as of this date)? And looks like ACCOUNT_ZERO and ACCOUNT_ONE are just special values, they're not actual accounts with any balance in them.
Manish
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-04-27T23:22:14.867Z
The root account has long since been emptied. And yes, they are just special values, not actual accounts. You could never create them because you'd need a key that hashed to 0 or 1. Good luck finding one.
David Schwartz
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-08-14T00:09:23.187Z
Does this mean that, if someone, by an incredible amount of luck, happens to generate a key for one of these accounts, he will be a rich man?
Steven Roose
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-08-25T05:27:06.243Z
@StevenRoose Probably not, but if he happens to generate a key for an account that holds a lot of funds, then he will be.
David Schwartz
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-04-26T10:10:15.490Z
2013-04-26T19:02:22.813Z
2013-04-26T19:02:22.813Z
David Schwartz
<p>What are the special accounts ACCOUNT_ZERO, ACCOUNT_ONE, and root account? It's not clear from the Ripple wiki what they are meant for. A little explanation would be nice.</p>

<p>What makes these accounts "special?"</p>

<protocol><ripple><bitcoin-core-accounts>
What are the special Ripple accounts ACCOUNT_ZERO, ACCOUNT_ONE, and root account?
Manish
# What are the special Ripple accounts ACCOUNT_ZERO, ACCOUNT_ONE, and root account?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2013-04-26)

What are the special accounts ACCOUNT\_ZERO, ACCOUNT\_ONE, and root account? It's not clear from the Ripple wiki what they are meant for. A little explanation would be nice.

What makes these accounts "special?"

**Tags:** protocol, ripple, bitcoin-core-accounts


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2013-04-26. Score: 4 | Accepted answer

The root account is the account that owns the XRP in the initial ledger.

ACCOUNT\_ZERO is an account whose 160-bit identifier is zero. When dealing with a currency/issuer pair, ACCOUNT\_ZERO is used as both the currency and the issuer to indicate XRP.

ACCOUNT\_ONE is an account whose 160-bit identifier is one. ACCOUNT\_ONE is used in cases where no account is applicable but the currency is not XRP. For example, in a ripple balance node between two accounts, the "balance" belongs equally to both accounts and is really a property of the two of them. It has an issuer of ACCOUNT\_ONE.

ACCOUNT\_ONE is also sometimes used as a flag in internal arithmetic operations to indicate that non-XRP semantics are desired. XRP amounts are stored as integer drops (millionths of an XRP) while other currency's amounts are stored in exponential notation. Sometimes an amount isn't in any particular currency (for example, when outputs and inputs are divided to compute an offer's quality). To indicate non-XRP semantics without having a valid currency, ACCOUNT\_ONE is used. It essentially means "not XRP".

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: So essentially all the XRP starts out as belonging to the root account and is distributed from there. Does this mean that the root account still owns most of the XRP (as of this date)? And looks like ACCOUNT_ZERO and ACCOUNT_ONE are just special values, they're not actual accounts with any balance in them.  
> **username_1**: The root account has long since been emptied. And yes, they are just special values, not actual accounts. You could never create them because you'd need a key that hashed to 0 or 1. Good luck finding one.  
> **username_2**: Does this mean that, if someone, by an incredible amount of luck, happens to generate a key for one of these accounts, he will be a rich man?  
> **username_1**: @username_2 Probably not, but if he happens to generate a key for an account that holds a lot of funds, then he will be.  

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