SELFDESTRUCT Burn Events on Ethereum Mainnet
A scan of every block from genesis to ~tip (~24.95M blocks) using an instrumented Erigon EVM that records SELFDESTRUCT-related ETH-destruction events.
Event types
The instrumentation classifies four scenarios:
| Tag |
Meaning |
Era |
BURN (just_created=pre6780) |
Pre-Cancun: contract calls SELFDESTRUCT(self) with positive balance. Account was always destroyed at tx-end → balance burned. |
< block 19,426,587 |
BURN (just_created=true) |
Post-Cancun: contract created in the same tx calls SELFDESTRUCT(self). EIP-6780 still destroys it → balance burned. The Optimism Burn.sol idiom. |
≥ block 19,426,587 |
| BROKEN-BURN |
Post-Cancun: contract calls SELFDESTRUCT(self) but was not created in the same tx. EIP-6780 turns this into a no-op → no burn. |
≥ block 19,426,587 |
| AFTER-BURN |
Tx-end finalization destroys a selfdestructed contract whose balance is non-zero (i.e. ETH arrived after SELFDESTRUCT). |
any era |
Caveat: events are logged at opcode time, before tx outcome is known. A small number of entries may correspond to reverted transactions (filterable post-hoc via eth_getTransactionReceipt).
Summary
| Type |
Count |
Total burned |
| BURN (pre-Cancun) |
54 |
5.587 ETH |
| BURN (post-Cancun, just_created) |
2 |
1.529 ETH |
| BROKEN-BURN (post-Cancun broken) |
58 |
58 wei (1 wei × 58, single contract) |
| AFTER-BURN |
0 |
— |
No AFTER-BURN events ever. The “ETH arrives at a self-destructed account between SD and tx-end” pattern, which Erigon already wires via BalanceDecreaseSelfdestructBurn, has never fired on mainnet across 24.95M blocks.
Pre-Cancun BURN burns
54 distinct events, 49 unique addresses (one repeat-burner). Total burned: 5.587 ETH.
Top burners by aggregate balance
| Address |
TXs |
Total burned (ETH) |
0xad3b67bca8935cb510c8d18bd45f0b94f54a968f |
5 |
3.7355 |
0xdc8a6ef9a8a4114773e806dc24bb8e7b6f3d92eb |
1 |
0.1111 |
0x63caa3df88f1732c8edda0c24e0d8e9cbc81eff1 |
1 |
0.1610 |
0x4a20047eea10806907c66da915978c11eccb015f |
1 |
0.1000 |
0xcea99a910ab4a50225e93b9b96f53ae8f4ceb92d |
1 |
0.1000 |
0x7b6b181eb1c8ae10efacefea640ac160d2a5aac6 |
1 |
0.0991 |
0xc51bad9fc666adf6e111926452421809f0ddb8b6 |
1 |
0.0896 |
0x0063ef49883cee9b84b164a4ac7d5d4dbea61c99 |
1 |
0.0398 |
0xf1392024d8e132f2ef4d3f4df53581bd65509f3f |
1 |
0.0385 |
0xe5449e9a4f31c38d926b76f76571e5d0b143ef5d |
1 |
0.0300 |
Recurring self-burner — 0xad3b67bca8935cb510c8d18bd45f0b94f54a968f
5 events across pre-Cancun → Cancun-ish (Sep 2023 → Mar 2024):
| Block |
Tx |
Balance (wei) |
| 18,272,451 |
0x9a4ab67842837330172f8ea941ed28a6d9048389a1081539dbf955f7e6956432 |
12,328,015,721,895 |
| 18,463,574 |
0x6b307f4fcb93cc6100c77b69aa465994545dac160269b4d973233f7fb90ede4f |
9,472,928,213,301,832 |
| 18,562,839 |
0xaca7f8d936ecef3acd2b5c5b8c6f990f9e782fe77b6d2f6d0fa568d2fbfffaf2 |
305,631,223,625,230 |
| 18,725,959 |
0xe44e3c02b5ca32ace158e2f7cac68e4d846d0ce05c5d2b803da2e9b387ce77e4 |
2,496,441,496,821,259 |
| 19,420,875 |
0x61915de12a69fabaf458e54621fe046300a7fc789ff2d9d5196b1fe1c681518e |
3,723,261,702,728,140,777 |
The block 19,420,875 burn is 3.72 ETH — the largest single self-burn in our dataset. Less than 6,000 blocks before Cancun. Etherscan: https://etherscan.io/address/0xad3b67bca8935cb510c8d18bd45f0b94f54a968f
Same-block clusters (likely batch operations)
| Block |
Burns |
Notes |
| 8,255,796 |
4 |
Same tx 0xcb2567b6e736... — single batch tx hitting 4 contracts |
| 8,255,780 |
3 |
Same tx 0x0f8df0f46a00... |
| 8,255,832 |
3 |
Same tx 0x721546c6f5f0... |
| 18,263,721 |
3 |
Three separate txs, each a 1-wei burn (test pattern) |
Full pre-Cancun list
54 events sorted by block
| Block |
Address |
Tx |
Balance (wei) |
| 1,605,122 |
0x1f78775c8260df084f9a0e5fbdf06487b875ac4d |
0xa070eb02b338e5ba164da035fb3572904b05e2b4c9a46ba994fd3d6739f8fb07 |
2,000,000,000,000,000 |
| 2,857,542 |
0x351619539ea6739f67a8765a66d428a4ba005443 |
0x5bd5c8294b302b2ebacd60cd96509c3da1c674982683d981b0beb734c57b9d24 |
1 |
| 2,857,690 |
0x0403b5665eb8221ebd35ba3a51795643a70456d6 |
0x7d6672f44c24b4df794745620d87d7fe793a00cf1a08d172b38929d41f241859 |
1 |
| 2,905,200 |
0x07c181b89a379bb2dc612f2712ed0bb4c2d76bf1 |
0x91f52e1e529e09bb4325a1b57141eee55c64c2b350d65510da5ce4a42afe8428 |
1 |
| 4,227,075 |
0x4a20047eea10806907c66da915978c11eccb015f |
0x99ff1eddd81c3e61790f82aeb46b0ec10780892da63be6a7b7ef00d6a70e4faf |
100,000,000,000,000,000 |
| 5,064,729 |
0x034e01e44b6671fd5899623e3544c94d43fff433 |
0xd2befe3398bd56c54e4d57c97c199aa23fdc1297a4abc4b511ca6066f23a1154 |
1 |
| 5,149,568 |
0x7b6b181eb1c8ae10efacefea640ac160d2a5aac6 |
0x8b72f8ca16b77dbd8dc2f1f2a5b0340d50701e21ccb5152d54fdc4d6eeeb3591 |
99,058,928,000,000,000 |
| 5,236,978 |
0xe5449e9a4f31c38d926b76f76571e5d0b143ef5d |
0x1b16ce851353f714bebb87b1b735f3d9fba4fe7e7b1e19016637b978fb1a1cb7 |
30,000,000,000,000,000 |
| 5,331,499 |
0x8905c87b11507a243bbf57a17718d55f4c8a497c |
0xffa71a7485ffaae208860a15d0910fabec8fe9a40ee907665257bb57c7ab831b |
42 |
| 6,185,231 |
0x47440b537e3df8090134c79731773ad584319ed5 |
0xa56e813dc76ed8f955310a62b018f9fc9412f1fffe2ef1dc834987755eafcf49 |
6,966,444,079,057,750 |
| 7,280,254 |
0x000000000073b6eeb97a1b007fa833561b10be1e |
0x9606506b68766f0d77212d044ac3f21f5a1f30d0b4838ebff561f9fb01874b3b |
1 |
| 7,393,637 |
0x91d6e0901d466be83eaaf10b7f522c0a08acf83f |
0x6bf7defd6734d48a8bd0aa342b2a8251ad61ed209677d67135bd517fd103befb |
385,000,000,000 |
| 7,449,010 |
0x0526aacd250c3a3afabf7c28d50fb9f1e00e2d64 |
0x3d498e05ad7bccb3cf60e6cf29a36206f1f771de83cd93bdabb619aad54d879c |
998,001,000,000,000 |
| 7,725,234 |
0xdc8a6ef9a8a4114773e806dc24bb8e7b6f3d92eb |
0x04f65f3bc8cd7f20558fc8d7228b857c6346a7badf51513c1f2d88c7d1b36b55 |
111,075,000,000,000,000 |
| 7,839,789 |
0x0e532f97012693945bc073068a7d94501fc37dc5 |
0xb45cfb50031c368ec29bf63d0219efd3f09664a9afd2767ef02f17db094091a4 |
1,133,851,125,347,242 |
| 8,183,094 |
0xaa84c2f2531b8fde1913b5a260af514797b4b751 |
0x113287e858eb307ef10d6df36d4d169dbbb4d00182f50ae2aad3f2c53ab401ac |
1 |
| 8,255,780 |
0x60b93a05d59e9aa540214cd64c8e3ccfe1720ea0 |
0x0f8df0f46a00240f3bc97f16470bad3d75fe3af128fd15120b9f2d932036ad5c |
2 |
| 8,255,780 |
0x81a4b448c0605fb491f1b0870735521cb692a110 |
(same tx) |
1 |
| 8,255,780 |
0xc62c614df45b59fd7076e571b350df059bdd8645 |
(same tx) |
3 |
| 8,255,796 |
0x35d82bf3e304f48d6c6fb7a4f1e93ffe6aba9cf2 |
0xcb2567b6e736a94bb5b2cc77b66708c98b327228d61def5fefe2cdcc2599232a |
2 |
| 8,255,796 |
0x724b842bf9f5b86b031ce9086214f4ca023d7d20 |
(same tx) |
3 |
| 8,255,796 |
0x9291e582dc61194dc492264cd72c0aa560023125 |
(same tx) |
1 |
| 8,255,796 |
0xe921717a84a600752ac2480d761808c1eb2a6b96 |
(same tx) |
1 |
| 8,255,832 |
0x1497392a8f94933ffc08baa9ee1f9e5b598e4dee |
0x721546c6f5f0de5309c215e4e5f65493eee9f96bebf023becc1d07cafd345ac4 |
2 |
| 8,255,832 |
0x69cf39c045e07a7f24f56517ceda566d60508a25 |
(same tx) |
1 |
| 8,255,832 |
0x8c6ecebca681aafec16e1442452fbd597247f28f |
(same tx) |
1 |
| 8,708,043 |
0x0c62f6b6a46f049e9ac59bf3bd4f6d1a6c3d45c5 |
0x12b56c95fab7d9f04ea76e0381a59edc80dafa99a2c207784ab0ea84611ab167 |
15,000,000,000,000,000 |
| 8,915,876 |
0x0d6405e84bde6744ccd936ea6b936458aa6499ed |
0xebfc570cd8a2914c13ae127ec8a46d788a2a4d7733e97ae5a2c218972d7f033c |
2,829,922,277,722,000 |
| 8,927,585 |
0x33d95bf689fc509bf16f86f78e7d853f68c5a601 |
0xf7910c204f8a3a6eb8c4590421f993349276b5d0a98c1fe1eda3e90498ee83e5 |
9,980,039,920,159,000 |
| 8,927,894 |
0x0f7ddc56b7727d7031d9cf5e48bfc0575881f9bd |
0x56ac5ceaf659aae05a5783529d2c70dfbc161fbef90999edb5cff4e83fec96e6 |
19,940,179,461,615,000 |
| 8,927,909 |
0x0063ef49883cee9b84b164a4ac7d5d4dbea61c99 |
0x4b0b25732bb40465c8619ff0083452bc8c077704762b27ef0d69c3b689050dbf |
39,840,637,450,199,000 |
| 8,928,110 |
0xc51bad9fc666adf6e111926452421809f0ddb8b6 |
0xd339589c3431a53107f8a55618250c099d20d8608bdbd850e6524c6150c1db57 |
89,552,238,805,970,000 |
| 8,976,947 |
0xf1392024d8e132f2ef4d3f4df53581bd65509f3f |
0x91e1848d4c94eb634df22c5619b2af93630ba3ee020f076a2358cd17bcf17c2b |
38,502,835,984,095,000 |
| 9,463,100 |
0xf43f9358ddd12a6d264db1ff4eb2894dc83cc057 |
0x07e0c2889b013bf76a1eca7a584098f96637740bd4d980822b8563442b66fb06 |
1 |
| 10,628,145 |
0xa73747cbc0a89c3d88ff7e388d0399e7fa84a424 |
0xb66faf79fda97d86f30a8a789340d7ca00a433c1063082811017c56f24566bd1 |
1 |
| 10,628,390 |
0xf2bf605070af4e7e1b0263d65487353d8a08cfc2 |
0xfa31fa18624bee64c103cad6f5cfcac4f985d39f23b21e2e4db0a3fccc3d2ccb |
10,000,000,000,000,000 |
| 12,584,753 |
0x03d80c3e137fdcfb8b40b2e49def40a36b4bf76e |
0x0b2afda602766db97cca8810485d233e27a9a73d5c37f7a387dc6b8e12121790 |
999,000,000,000,000,000 |
| 12,716,219 |
0xc326af5d2699b6554b5ed11cfc5829e373ae6284 |
0x5f711ae6b12f6c5ffdcda0d14d71f7fbd25b8f0d95a3572a10b1d75b6cf868a6 |
999,000,000,000,000 |
| 14,822,395 |
0x8c65eab6760b7d942b2db9cf8ef800d50d6cdf68 |
0x55746d11fd163c599d7288eab42d6beb20cddfb39696da35cb57231f761ae51c |
1,000,000,000,000 |
| 15,647,577 |
0x093a47cf28d56c3bc34f96f933ad7a1f0a28c792 |
0x3f508c22450ce3dcdc292f2ab47b52cb9188a44fdd86e02d3e80d08a66be7cc3 |
11,451,419,198,100,000 |
| 15,976,465 |
0xbe78d705f18b7230adae1804ef313a86e9f6b0bb |
0x3bab7b8cfaa3ec87438474cce00404fab02eae8cb99a956e237564bc52f15ad5 |
100,000 |
| 16,520,637 |
0xcea99a910ab4a50225e93b9b96f53ae8f4ceb92d |
0x47faad1f417a2495ee2cccf067da3f548a1b2570f50eaa61767618818da17d3b |
100,000,000,000,000,000 |
| 16,629,253 |
0x63caa3df88f1732c8edda0c24e0d8e9cbc81eff1 |
0xe017c4904259edc606b7cfc9d711d1abedfd841dfe5d15e2dc4feb90ca806470 |
161,000,000,000,000,000 |
| 17,845,523 |
0x000000000dc840d0283e62e17aeebf1e21cf3450 |
0xec1fecab0d71fe9ad08b3b88f769d1aad1a7413075b6cb3840bd5fbdfd617d36 |
13,624,058,815 |
| 18,263,721 |
0x5f515f6c524b18ca30f7783fb58dd4be2e9904ec |
0x6a1735d522fa402167e0e69e390d2dfb210b679e718312dba608776d1195cb94 |
1 |
| 18,263,721 |
0x8d8404f8cca4c8834ca3cab1e54887ae47724bee |
0x4599e7fdc3c282c4fd557181223587c3055300adcfbba7f35e6288f0e2ae9686 |
1 |
| 18,263,721 |
0xe37e799d5077682fa0a244d46e5649f71457bd09 |
0x90c14e76a2b061929ae7b6f79c4f36249f8de9a2046422912375dff073f4659d |
1 |
| 18,272,451 |
0xad3b67bca8935cb510c8d18bd45f0b94f54a968f |
0x9a4ab67842837330172f8ea941ed28a6d9048389a1081539dbf955f7e6956432 |
12,328,015,721,895 |
| 18,463,574 |
0xad3b67bca8935cb510c8d18bd45f0b94f54a968f |
0x6b307f4fcb93cc6100c77b69aa465994545dac160269b4d973233f7fb90ede4f |
9,472,928,213,301,832 |
| 18,562,839 |
0xad3b67bca8935cb510c8d18bd45f0b94f54a968f |
0xaca7f8d936ecef3acd2b5c5b8c6f990f9e782fe77b6d2f6d0fa568d2fbfffaf2 |
305,631,223,625,230 |
| 18,725,959 |
0xad3b67bca8935cb510c8d18bd45f0b94f54a968f |
0xe44e3c02b5ca32ace158e2f7cac68e4d846d0ce05c5d2b803da2e9b387ce77e4 |
2,496,441,496,821,259 |
| 18,820,882 |
0xb01f8f528702d411d24c9bb8cc0e2fff779ec013 |
0x8e8f7d58b0a6666dc59c37799fc48876327c5f1785530045e94d4395444dc8c6 |
2,467,839,662,764,357 |
| 19,420,875 |
0xad3b67bca8935cb510c8d18bd45f0b94f54a968f |
0x61915de12a69fabaf458e54621fe046300a7fc789ff2d9d5196b1fe1c681518e |
3,723,261,702,728,140,777 |
Post-Cancun broken burns — BROKEN-BURN
58 events, all from a single contract: 0x6550f9a4bd878a384625f62ad5aab1fe7c3412de.
Every event burns exactly 1 wei, all spread across ~200k blocks just after Cancun (block 19,481,732 → 19,680,384, March 21 → April 2024). This contract repeatedly invokes selfdestru ct(self) on itself but is not created in the same tx — under EIP-6780 these are no-ops. Reads as a probe / regression test running against post-Cancun mainnet.
Etherscan (shows every selfdestruct call from this contract): https://etherscan.io/address/0x6550f9a4bd878a384625f62ad5aab1fe7c3412de
No other address triggers BROKEN-BURN in our dataset. The post-Cancun world is, in practice, free of this pattern modulo this single probe.
Post-Cancun real burns — BURN (just_created=true)
The EIP-6780-compatible burn path: contract created in same tx + immediate SELFDESTRUCT(self). Optimism’s Burn.sol library uses exactly this pattern; on mainnet only 2 events in
the entire post-Cancun range:
| Block |
Tx |
Address |
Balance |
| 24,101,526 |
0xed66125771c89d68a953e078c7d48168d38c6979b24cfa21d0d2c9f5f46e596d |
0x5768c6379f70d1fa4b12a5d0de940f35ebadd425 |
1.5206 ETH |
| 24,297,537 |
0x02ab8696abceec2b9b5bc158e108672f545cc759f8c69d9b0971e2fa52462d6b |
0xc326af5d2699b6554b5ed11cfc5829e373ae6284 |
0.00845 ETH |
Note: the second address 0xc326af5d... also appears in the pre-Cancun dataset at block 12,716,219 (0.000999 ETH burn) — a contract that has been used for self-burns on both sides o
f the fork.
The first event at block 24,101,526 burns 1.52 ETH (the only “large” post-Cancun real burn). Worth verifying status via tx receipt — opcode-time logging means a reverted tx would still a
ppear here.
AFTER-BURN — deferred burns at tx end
Zero events ever recorded.
The pattern (a contract selfdestructs, then ETH arrives at the now-marked-for-destruction address later in the same tx, which then gets burned at tx-end finalization) is theoretically
possible but does not appear to have happened on Ethereum mainnet across all 24.95M blocks executed.
Erigon already wires the BalanceDecreaseSelfdestructBurn tracing hook for exactly this case (in IntraBlockState.updateAccount), so the absence of events is robust — it’s not an instr
umentation gap.
Method
Custom Erigon build with three log points:
opSelfdestruct (pre-Cancun handler) — emit on self == beneficiary && balance > 0.opSelfdestruct6780 (post-Cancun handler) — classify as BURN (newContract case) or BROKEN-BURN (otherwise) per ClassifySDBurn.IntraBlockState.updateAccount — emit AFTER-BURN alongside the existing BalanceDecreaseSelfdestructBurn hook firing site.
Replay across the entire 0 → 24.95M block range via integration stage_exec_replay with 16 parallel workers. Read-only against frozen snapshots; total replay wall-clock ~50 hours on Zen
3.
The instrumentation patch lives on a throwaway erigon branch — see PR https://github.com/erigontech/erigon/pull/20828.
Known caveats
- Reverted transactions: opcode-time logging means a tx that calls SELFDESTRUCT and then reverts still produces a log line. Filter the dataset against
eth_getTransactionReceipt(tx). status for canonical burned-only views.
- Duplicate entries from earlier instrumentation runs (zero tx-hash entries before the fix in
historical_trace_worker.go) are excluded from the counts above.
Context: EIP-7708 (ETH transfers as logs)
EIP-7708 (active from the Amsterdam fork onward in Erigon) emits a synthetic
Transfer log for every EVM-level ETH movement and a Burn log for ETH that
leaves circulating supply. Mapped onto the events in this study:
| Event |
EIP-7708 emits a log? |
| BURN (real burn at SELFDESTRUCT time, post-Cancun newContract self-burn) |
 Burn log emitted by opSelfdestruct6780 |
| AFTER-BURN (deferred burn at tx-end finalization with non-zero residual) |
Burn log emitted by LogSelfDestructedAccounts post-tx |
| BROKEN-BURN (post-Cancun no-op self-SD) |
 no log — nothing actually moves or disappears |
Pre-Cancun BURN events are in scope of the same opcode path but EIP-7708 only
activates from Amsterdam onwards, so historical pre-Cancun burns wouldn’t be
retroactively logged.
Total post-Cancun events EIP-7708 would log as Burns
In the post-Cancun range observed by this study (block 19,426,587 → ~24.95M):
- 2 BURN events
- 0 AFTER-BURN events
- Total: 2 EIP-7708
Burn log emissions would have occurred (had Amsterdam been active throughout post-Cancun history).
The 58 BROKEN-BURN events from 0x6550f9... are explicitly not counted —
EIP-7708 (correctly) treats them as no-ops and emits nothing for them.