XRP Ledger
Updated
Summary
The XRP Ledger (XRPL) is an open-source public blockchain built for payments and token issuance. Transactions are confirmed by validators that each server chooses to trust (its Unique Node List), not by mining, and the ledger has had a built-in order-book exchange since launch. Features are added by amendments that need more than 80% validator support for two weeks. Its native asset, XRP, pays fees that are destroyed at 10 drops (0.00001 XRP) per reference transaction. The ledger also hosts automated market maker pools, issued tokens such as the RLUSD stablecoin, and Multi-Purpose Tokens.
Key numbers
Reference transaction cost (destroyed, not paid to anyone): 10 drops (0.00001 XRP); AMMCreate and AccountDelete 200,000 drops (as of 2026-10-25). Source: xrpl.org
Total XRP destroyed by fees to date: UNKNOWN (no primary figure found; xrpl.org pages read give none) (as of 2026-10-25). Source: xrpl.org
xrpld releases, 2026-06-15 to 2026-09-25 (3.2.0, 3.3.0, 3.4.0, 3.4.1): 4 in about 14 weeks, plus hotfix 3.2.1 (2026-07-31) (as of 2026-09-25). Source: xrpl.org
Default-UNL validators on xrpld 3.4.1 the day it shipped: More than 80% (as of 2026-09-25). Source: xrpl.org
Default UNL size / total validators (undated FAQ): 35+ on default UNL; 150+ validators; current counts UNKNOWN (as of 2026-10-25). Source: xrpl.org
Consensus quorum / negative-UNL floor: 80% of effective UNL / never below 60% of configured UNL (as of 2026-10-25). Source: xrpl.org
RLUSD in circulation / reserve funds (all chains, Ripple page): $2,382.8M / $2,528.0M (as of 2026-10-22). Source: ripple.com
RLUSD issued on XRPL (Cross River claim; Ripple page gives no chain split): More than $1 billion (as of 2026-10-15). Source: crossriver.com
Value settled on XRPL to date (Cross River claim; XRP share UNKNOWN): More than $1.3 trillion (as of 2026-10-15). Source: crossriver.com
XRPL stablecoin market cap / distributed RWA value (RWA.xyz aggregator): $998.35M / $642.20M (as of 2026-10-25). Source: app.rwa.xyz
CSD BR total registered assets (whole depository; not the XRPL mirror): More than BRL 22 trillion (as of 2026-09-29). Source: ripple.com
XRP held by Evernorth at closing (issuer figure): About 473 million XRP (as of 2026-10-09). Source: nasdaq.com
Timeline
2026-10-15 — Cross River Bank adds RLUSD and XRPL transactions to its core banking system, citing 3-5 second settlement; service limited to some states. (Source: crossriver.com)
2026-10-12 — Standard Chartered begins RLUSD custody through its DIFC branch; LMAX collateral is planned, not live. (Source: ripple.com)
2026-10-09 — xrpl.org publishes the 3.4.1 disclosure: a payment-engine overflow that could mint XRP and a Batch wrapper flaw; no exploitation found. (Source: xrpl.org)
2026-10-09 — fixBatchV1_2 and BatchV1_1 activate; older servers become amendment blocked. (Source: xrpl.org)
2026-09-29 — CSD BR starts mirroring BTG Pactual fund-share records on XRPL as Multi-Purpose Tokens in a permissioned setting. (Source: ripple.com)
2026-09-25 — xrpld 3.4.1 ships as an emergency release; the payment-engine fix applies on upgrade without an amendment. (Source: xrpl.org)
2026-09-21 — xrpl.org reports the Sponsor (XLS-68) reserve bug found on Devnet; amendment not active on Mainnet. (Source: xrpl.org)
2026-09-16 — xrpld 3.4.0 introduces LendingProtocolV1_1 and fixCleanup3_4_0. (Source: xrpl.org)
2026-08-18 — xrpl.org publishes the manifest-flood report: availability hit, no fork, cause unconfirmed. (Source: xrpl.org)
2026-08-06 — xrpld 3.3.0 introduces BatchV1_1, ConfidentialTransfer, DynamicMPT and Sponsor, and hardens manifest handling. (Source: xrpl.org)
2026-07-30 — Manifest flood begins; hotfix 3.2.1 follows on 2026-07-31. (Source: xrpl.org)
2026-06-15 — xrpld 3.2.0 renames the rippled binary to xrpld and adds fixCleanup3_2_0 for vault, lending, MPT and permissioned-DEX fixes. (Source: xrpl.org)
2026-02-23 — rippled 3.1.1 emergency release disables the never-activated Batch amendment after a signature-validation flaw. (Source: xrpl.org)
2025-09-30 — Old default-UNL publisher URL shuts down; publisher moves to unl.xrplf.org under a new XRPL Foundation. (Source: xrpl.org)
2025-06-24 — rippled 2.5.0 opens TokenEscrow, Batch, PermissionedDEX, PermissionDelegation and AMMv1_3 for voting. (Source: xrpl.org)
Key actors and links
Ripple (actor:ripple): Employs the RippleX engineers who triaged the 3.4.1 bugs, runs one default-UNL validator, and issues RLUSD; the ledger is governed by amendments, not by Ripple alone.
XRP (asset:crypto-xrp): Native asset: pays and burns fees, and can be at most one side of an AMM pool; ledger activity does not by itself add XRP demand.
RLUSD (asset:crypto-rlusd): Largest new on-ledger stablecoin; Ripple's page shows $2.38B on all chains, partners say more than $1B is on XRPL.
Evernorth (actor:evernorth): Holds about 473M XRP and says it will deploy it in institutional and DeFi yield; native XRPL lending is a later phase.
Ripple Prime (actor:ripple-prime): Accepts RLUSD as collateral for 24/7 swaps that reference Hyperliquid perps; the swaps are not described as settling on XRPL.
XRPL decentralized exchange (theme:decentralized-exchange): The order-book exchange built into the ledger since launch; the permissioned DEX opened for voting in 2025.
XRPL automated market makers (theme:automated-market-maker): AMM pools hold at most one XRP and a trust line token; creating one burns 200,000 drops.
XRPL per-transaction burn (theme:xrpl-transaction-burn): Fees are destroyed at 10 drops per reference transaction; the cumulative burn is UNKNOWN here.
Tokenization (theme:tokenization): CSD BR's MPT mirror is a permissioned tokenization pilot; later issuance phases have not started.
Ripple/XRPL ecosystem adoption (theme:xrpl-ecosystem-adoption): Bank, custody and depository integrations in 2026-09 and 2026-10 are adoption signals for the ledger.
Tokenized RWA issuance/settlement on XRPL (indicator:xrpl-tokenized-rwa): RWA.xyz shows $642M of distributed RWAs on XRPL; an aggregator figure, not a primary one.
XRP required/preferred/inventory/bypassed role (indicator:xrp-token-role): The test of whether new deployments need XRP; none of the three 2026-09/10 releases describe a role for it.
Token-specific value capture (theme:token-value-capture): Frames the gap between ledger usage and holder value that this node's gate addresses.
Stablecoins (theme:stablecoins): Stablecoin settlement is the largest use of the ledger the sources describe.
Why it matters now
Two things happened in October 2026. Institutions announced XRPL work: Standard Chartered began RLUSD custody on 2026-10-12, Cross River put RLUSD and XRPL payments into its core banking system on 2026-10-15, and CSD BR began mirroring tokenized fund-share records on 2026-09-29. None of the three releases describes a role for the XRP token, and the Cross River service is limited to some states.
The second is a security disclosure. xrpl.org said on 2026-10-09 that xrpld 3.4.0 and earlier had a payment-engine overflow that could mint XRP; it shipped fixed in 3.4.1 on 2026-09-25, without an amendment, with no evidence of exploitation. Alongside it, fixBatchV1_2 and BatchV1_1 (atomic batch transactions) activated. It was the fourth 2026 vulnerability report. Lending moved too: LendingProtocolV1_1 was introduced on 2026-09-16, but Mainnet activation is UNKNOWN on a primary page.
Risks and open questions
Bull case: The ledger is being used by regulated institutions in new ways. A bank (Cross River), a custodian (Standard Chartered) and a securities depository (CSD BR) each announced XRPL work within 16 days. The protocol keeps shipping: four xrpld releases from 2026-06-15 to 2026-09-25, atomic batch transactions live on 2026-10-09, and vault, lending and sponsorship features in the pipeline. The security process also caught the worst bug before any known exploit: the overflow was found by the bug bounty, triaged within a day and patched on more than 80% of default-UNL validators the day it shipped.
Bear case: Four vulnerability reports covering five bugs in 2026 show a young feature set still being hardened. The overflow sat in 2015-era payment code for about eleven years, the invariant meant to catch it used the same unchecked arithmetic, and it was fixed outside the amendment process, so validators did not vote on it. Batch needed a replacement amendment and then a second fix before it could activate. The newest institutional deployments are small or limited: CSD BR is a permissioned mirror with its own systems as the official record, LMAX collateral is a plan, Cross River serves some states, and RWA.xyz shows about $0.64B of RWAs and $1.0B of stablecoins. RLUSD circulation fell from $2,460.7M (2026-10-08) to $2,382.8M (2026-10-22). Lending is still not confirmed active on Mainnet.
Falsifiers: - The 'institutional adoption' view weakens if RLUSD on XRPL and RWA value stay flat or fall over the next two Ripple transparency updates. - The 'hardening' view weakens if another critical flaw is disclosed in a release already enabled on Mainnet, or if the promised release re-verification step is not adopted. - The 'lending is coming' view weakens if LendingProtocolV1_1 does not reach 80% validator support or needs another replacement amendment. - The 'ledger activity does not reach XRP' view weakens if Ripple, a bank or Evernorth discloses recurring XRP bridge, collateral or lending volume on XRPL. - The decentralisation concern weakens if the default UNL grows beyond its 35-plus validators with documented independent operators.
Value accrual gate: This is a ledger node, not a token. Ledger activity is not automatic XRP value capture. Each transaction destroys a fee of about 0.00001 XRP, which is a negligible demand channel, and the sources AA read describe no required XRP role in Cross River, Standard Chartered or CSD BR work. RLUSD reserve income goes to its issuer, not XRP holders, and institution revenue goes to Ripple's shareholders. Value reaches XRP only if disclosed data show XRP used as AMM or DEX liquidity, bridge inventory, collateral or lending principal at size. Inference (AA): keep the gate closed until such data exist.
What to watch
Ripple's xrpld 3.4.1 follow-up: source release, retrospective and re-verification of fixed security findings. (no scheduled date); Source: xrpl.org
Whether LendingProtocolV1_1 gets 80% validator support and activates; lead reports said it was short of votes, unconfirmed on a primary page. (no scheduled date); Source: xrpl.org
Activation of Sponsor (XLS-68) after its reserve fix; the amendment is not active on Mainnet. (no scheduled date); Source: xrpl.org
Next RLUSD circulation and reserve update, and any chain split. (monthly; no fixed date); Source: ripple.com
CSD BR's next phase: native issuance and trading among authorised participants. (not started; no date); Source: ripple.com
Standard Chartered and LMAX RLUSD collateral going live, subject to documentation and approvals. (no scheduled date); Source: ripple.com
Evernorth's first reported deployment of XRP into yield strategies, and whether any runs on XRPL. (Q4 2026 per its own plan; unscheduled); speculative, no scheduled source
Disclosed counts of default-UNL validators and their operators. (no scheduled date); speculative, no scheduled source
AA inference
Inference (AA): XRPL is the venue where the graph observes payments, exchange and tokenization activity, and its 2026 record is fast feature delivery with real security debt. Use ledger-activity series (RLUSD, RWA value, validator health) separately from XRP demand series; the gate between them stays closed until disclosed data show XRP is needed by the new deployments.
Sources
xrpld 3.4.1 was released on 2026-09-25 as an emergency release; xrpl.org rated upgrading critical, and said an unupgraded server would be amendment blocked once fixBatchV1_2 enabled. (Source: xrpl.org, accessed 2026-10-25)
The xrpl.org disclosure of 2026-10-09 reports two bugs fixed in 3.4.1: a Batch inner-transaction wrapper check (fixBatchV1_2) and a payment-engine XRP overflow. (Source: xrpl.org, accessed 2026-10-25)
The payment-engine bug summed offer amounts with unchecked 64-bit addition, so a large sum wrapped to a small one; the engine paid every offer owner in full but charged the buyer only the wrapped total, minting XRP. It affected xrpld 3.4.0 and earlier, the code dates from 2015, and the invariant check was added about two years later. (Source: xrpl.org, accessed 2026-10-25)
The disclosure says no exploitation was found on any public network; the attack needed a few hundred accounts with mispriced offers, at a real cost of a few hundred recoverable XRP in reserves plus fees. It gives no figure for how much XRP could have been created. (Source: xrpl.org, accessed 2026-10-25)
The payment-engine fix shipped in 3.4.1 with no amendment and took effect on upgrade; the disclosure calls this the first transaction-processing change to ship that way since amendments began. More than 80% of default-UNL validators ran 3.4.1 on 2026-09-25. (Source: xrpl.org, accessed 2026-10-25)
fixBatchV1_2 and BatchV1_1 (atomic batch transactions, XLS-56) both activated on 2026-10-09; BatchV1_1 had been held back until the fix was live. (Source: xrpl.org, accessed 2026-10-25)
The GitHub 3.4.1 release page says fixBatchV1_2 is enabled on Mainnet, so older releases are amendment blocked. (Source: github.com, accessed 2026-10-25)
xrpld 3.4.0 (2026-09-16) introduced LendingProtocolV1_1, which adds closed-ended vaults and cash-basis accounting to Single Asset Vaults and the Lending Protocol. (Source: xrpl.org, accessed 2026-10-25)
xrpld 3.3.0 (2026-08-06) introduced BatchV1_1, ConfidentialTransfer (XLS-96), DynamicMPT (XLS-94), PermissionDelegationV1_1 and Sponsor (XLS-68). (Source: xrpl.org, accessed 2026-10-25)
The Lending Protocol makes fixed-term, uncollateralized loans from a Single Asset Vault; underwriting is off-chain and there is no automated on-chain collateral or liquidation. The page does not say whether the amendments are enabled on Mainnet, and xrpl.org's sidebar labels lending 'Open for Voting'. (Source: xrpl.org, accessed 2026-10-25)
In February 2026 a flaw in Batch signature validation was reported; rippled 3.1.1 (2026-02-23) disabled the Batch amendment, which had never activated, and no funds were at risk. (Source: xrpl.org, accessed 2026-10-25)
A manifest flood began on 2026-07-30: hubs fell to single-digit peer counts, but the ledger did not halt or fork and no funds were lost; xrpl.org says the cause is unconfirmed. (Source: xrpl.org, accessed 2026-10-25)
A Sponsor (XLS-68) reserve-accounting bug was found on Devnet in August 2026, fixed in 3.4.0 and reported on 2026-09-21; the amendment is not active on Mainnet. (Source: xrpl.org, accessed 2026-10-25)
The XRPL transaction cost is irrevocably destroyed rather than paid to anyone; the reference cost is 10 drops, and AMMCreate and AccountDelete each cost 200,000 drops. (Source: xrpl.org, accessed 2026-10-25)
An XRPL AMM pool can hold at most one XRP, the other asset must be a trust line token, and liquidity providers vote the trading fee between 0% and 1%. (Source: xrpl.org, accessed 2026-10-25)
A server counts only validators on its own UNL; the default configuration uses lists from the XRP Ledger Foundation and Ripple. Safe operation needs overlap and an 80% quorum, and the negative UNL cannot push quorum below 60% of the configured UNL. (Source: xrpl.org, accessed 2026-10-25)
The xrpl.org FAQ cites 150+ validators and 35+ on the default UNL (Ripple one of 35 as of July 2023); the page is undated, so current counts are UNKNOWN. (Source: xrpl.org, accessed 2026-10-25)
The default-UNL publisher moved to unl.xrplf.org under a new XRPL Foundation; the old URL shut down on 2025-09-30. (Source: xrpl.org, accessed 2026-10-25)
On 2026-10-15 Cross River said it had added RLUSD and XRPL transactions to its core banking system, citing 3-5 second settlement, more than $1.3 trillion settled on XRPL to date, RLUSD above $2.5 billion and more than $1 billion issued on XRPL; the release describes no role for the XRP token and limits service to some states. (Source: crossriver.com, accessed 2026-10-25)
Standard Chartered began RLUSD custody on 2026-10-12 through its DIFC branch; the LMAX collateral plan is not live and is subject to documentation, testing and approvals; the release gives no amounts and no role for XRP. (Source: ripple.com, accessed 2026-10-25)
On 2026-09-29 CSD BR began mirroring BTG Pactual fund-share records on XRPL as Multi-Purpose Tokens; its own systems remain the official record, access is permissioned, and later phases of native issuance have not started; the release gives no XRP role. (Source: ripple.com, accessed 2026-10-25)
Ripple's transparency page showed $2,382.8 million of RLUSD in circulation against $2,528.0 million of reserve funds on 2026-10-22, with no chain split. (Source: ripple.com, accessed 2026-10-25)
RWA.xyz (aggregator, not a primary source) showed $642.20M of distributed RWA value, $998.35M of stablecoin market cap and 2,499 RWA holders on XRP Ledger on 2026-10-25. (Source: app.rwa.xyz, accessed 2026-10-25)
Evernorth completed its business combination on 2026-10-09 holding about 473 million XRP; its release names institutional and DeFi yield strategies but not the XRP Ledger specifically. (Source: nasdaq.com, accessed 2026-10-25)
xrpld 2.5.0 (2025-06-24) opened TokenEscrow, Batch, PermissionedDEX, PermissionDelegation and AMMv1_3 for voting. (Source: xrpl.org, accessed 2026-10-25)