Just the name implies, a token burn virtually destroys coins on a particular blockchain by making them unspendable. Tokens are sometimes burned by individuals who are demonstrating commitment to the blockchain's cause or its community. Token burn can also be a key design at a protocol level to achieve some degree of deflation in the blockchain's underlying asset. Whether token burning really achieves deflation ultimately depends on the [[1. What is Tokenomics|tokenomics]] of that chain, the demand for its underlying asset, and the demand for block space. In a digital system, the question is how to destroy something that was virtual to begin with. This is sometimes done by sending tokens to an address which no one can access or via some smart contract. To be sure that the funds are "burned", the funds must be sent to a provably *unspendable address*, or an address which can be cryptographically shown as an invalid network address. Such a mechanism can be referred to as [[Proof of Burn]].