Memo and Destination Tag
Destination tag · Memo · Secondary deposit address
An extra number or short text sent with the address when an exchange takes many users' deposits at one shared address, so it can tell whose deposit is whose.
Simple explanation
Background: Korean exchanges show the tag or memo right next to the deposit address, and Upbit calls it a "secondary deposit address" (2차 입금 주소). Leaving it out is one of the classic ways a transfer between exchanges goes missing.
Usually each user gets their own deposit address, but for some coins, XRP being the best known, an exchange receives everyone's deposits at a single address. The address alone cannot say who sent what, so each user is given their own number or text to send with it. On the XRP Ledger it is called a destination tag; on Stellar (XLM) and Cosmos (ATOM) it is called a memo.
Why share one address? On the XRP Ledger every account has to be funded and keeps a reserve locked up, so a separate address for each customer would cost money and network resources; a tag is a lighter way to match deposits to customers. XRP tags are numbers only, while a Stellar memo can be a number or a short piece of text.
Whether you need one depends on the exchange and the network. XRP, XLM and ATOM are the usual examples, but the same coin can work differently on different exchanges. If the receiving exchange's deposit screen shows a tag or memo next to the address, you must include it. Sending to your own personal wallet, where the address belongs to you alone, usually needs no tag.
If you leave the tag out or get it wrong, the blockchain transfer still completes. The coins land at the exchange's address, but the exchange cannot tell they are yours, so your balance does not change. A blockchain transfer cannot be cancelled, so you have to file a recovery request for a mistaken deposit (오입금 or 착오전송 in Korean) and wait for the exchange to credit you by hand. You will usually need the transaction ID (TXID), the amount and the sending address.
Recovery can take days or weeks depending on the exchange, may carry a fee, and can fail. Some exchanges, Upbit among them, let you look up a mistaken deposit by TXID and apply for its return, and Binance takes recovery requests for deposits with a missing memo but says success is not guaranteed. If the price falls while you wait, that loss is yours. Some exchanges set up their XRP address so that the ledger rejects any payment without a tag, but not all do, so do not count on it.
Transfers between Korean exchanges, or with overseas exchanges, also go through Travel Rule checks. Even with the right address and tag, a deposit can be delayed or sent back if the sending exchange is not on the receiving exchange's partner list or the name details do not match. Addresses and tags also change when an exchange replaces its wallets: after its November 2025 hack, Upbit deleted its old deposit addresses and told users to issue new ones before depositing. Copy the address and tag fresh from the receiving exchange's deposit screen every time instead of reusing saved ones.
A few habits cut the risk. Copy the address and the tag separately into their own fields, make sure the tag has not ended up in the address field, and check every digit. On a route you have not used before, send a small amount first and wait until it is credited before sending the rest. Mistakes are most common when people rush, as in kimchi premium arbitrage, and while a recovery drags on, the premium and the price keep moving.
CoinGaja does not show tags or memos, but its Deposit and withdrawal suspensions page lets you check that deposits are open at the receiving exchange before you send. It reads each exchange's official deposit and withdrawal status through their APIs every 5 minutes.
Example
A Korean exchange receives all users' XRP at one address → users are told apart by tag: user A 1001, user B 1002
User A withdraws 1,000 XRP from an overseas exchange; with a withdrawal fee of 1 XRP, 999 XRP arrive
Address + tag 1001 → 999 XRP credited to user A
Tag left out → the 999 XRP reach the exchange's address, but nobody knows whose they are, so the balance shows 0 → file a recovery request with the TXID
If the 999 XRP are worth ₩3,000,000 (about $2,140) and the price falls 10% while you wait → ₩2,700,000 (about $1,930), less any recovery fee
At ₩3,000,000 the transfer is ₩1,000,000 or more, so it also goes through Travel Rule checks
※ Example numbers, for illustration only
See it on CoinGaja
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