RippleX, the development wing of Ripple Labs, has revealed a major update to the XRPL EVM sidechain, facilitating compatibility of the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) with the XRP Ledger (XRPL). This major development is expected to improve interoperability and open new avenues for the tokenization of decentralized finance (DeFi) and real-world assets (RWA) on XRPL.
Ripple partners with Axelar for EVM bridge
The initiative to integrate EVM capabilities into XRPL was the first introduced on the XRPL devnet in October 2022. In a detailed blog post published by Team Ripple, the new sidechain is presented as a crucial innovation.
“We collectively believe the future of blockchain is multi-chain and are excited to share an update on one of the top requests from the developer community: bringing Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatibility to XRP Ledger (XRPL),” the message reads. This compatibility aims to bridge the functional gap between XRPL and Ethereum, thus enriching the XRPL ecosystem with the vast array of existing Ethereum tools and DApps, thereby enhancing its utility and reach.
The now officially named XRPL EVM Sidechain works with an Axelar-facilitated bridge that uses wrapped XRP (eXRP) as both a native asset and a gas token. This bridge is crucial to ensuring seamless asset transfers between XRPL and the EVM sidechain, maintaining robust interoperability and efficient transaction processing.
The blog post also emphasizes the technical collaboration with Peersyst Technology, stating: “The Ripple engineering team has also worked closely with Peersyst to expand the interoperability of XRPL. Axelar is a battle-tested, production-ready and fully compatible bridge to bring wrapped XRP (eXRP) as a native currency to the XRPL EVM sidechain. Ferran Prat, CEO of Peersyst, said: “The Peersyst engineering team is currently working on migrating the main bridge to Axelar for development. »
The Axelar integration provides a decentralized bridge operated by a network of validators, improving security and facilitating broader cross-chain interactions. With 75 validators in its network, Axelar enforces rigorous security protocols, including key rotation policies to prevent potential attacks, ensuring infrastructure reliability and reliability.
The new sidechain also aims to simplify the user experience, which was previously complicated by the use of different bridges for different types of transactions. By using Axelar’s technology for all XRPL to EVM transfers, the process becomes more streamlined and user-friendly.
“The current process of transferring new tokens via XLS-38 is arduous. Using two different bridges – XLS-38 for XRP and Axelar for other tokens and for executing cross-chain smart contracts – complicates the user journey. By consolidating into a single bridge, the process becomes simplified, making it more intuitive and user-friendly,” writes RippleX.
Additionally, the company highlights the continued importance of the XLS-38 proposal in its blog post, explaining its role in enabling XRPL developers to create custom sidechains. Although the amendment remains up for voting and approval, Ripple’s UNL validator has taken the position of voting “No” until further validation and community feedback is obtained.
Over the next 12 to 15 months, Ripple engineers will continue to evaluate community feedback and adoption metrics to refine and potentially expand the functionality of the EVM sidechain. By engaging with the developer community and gathering feedback, Ripple aims to ensure that XRPL continues to evolve to effectively meet user needs.
At press time, XRP was trading at $0.483.
Featured image created with DALL·E, chart from TradingView.com
