XRP in Focus as Developers Eye Institutional DeFi

Fundamental investors tracking XRP have more reason to cheer as a planned set of features aims to make the XRP Ledger, the network underpinning that token, even more appealing for institutional usage.

XRP prices are up 2.2% in the past 24 hours, outperforming a 1.1% decline in bitcoin following Tuesday’s market carnage.

Ripple said in a Tuesday update the XRP Ledger network will build out more compliance functions and expanded lending, among other features, to let institutions meet regulatory requirements and offer new lending options.

These include flexible tokens, a lending system, an EVM sidechain, and permissioned settings that take place directly on the decentralized network (without any intermediaries).

The updates are in addition to features already live on the network, including clawback — a feature allowing the issuer to reclaim tokens tied to illicit activity — to decentralized identity applications.

Flexible tokens are digital items representing anything — like bonds or collectibles — and come with extra details to make them more useful. A new lending tool will let companies borrow and lend directly on the XRP Ledger without needing banks or extra steps. It’s designed to be safe and follow the rules.

Permission settings can let companies set rules about who can use certain features, keeping things private and secure — helping meet legal standards and protect sensitive financial activities.

Furthermore, the release of an XRPL EVM sidechain, which is slated for a mainnet launch in the second quarter of 2025, is expected to attract more developers to the network.

This development aims to integrate developers from the EVM ecosystem into the XRPL framework by enabling support for protocols that are not feasible on the existing XRPL infrastructure. XRP will be the main token used to pay for transacting on this network — including all financial applications.

The Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) is a decentralized computing engine that executes smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain, enabling programmable, automated transactions.