XRP Ledger Could Gain Major Upgrade as Ripple Explores Staking, Smart Contracts, and New DeFi Tools

• Ripple’s engineering head, Ayo Akinyele, stated that staking on XRP Ledger would require new reward and distribution mechanisms.
• CTO David Schwartz noted that broader programmability efforts have prompted a reassessment of how XRPL could support more advanced DeFi functions.

Top Ripple executives have been providing a glimpse into the next steps, while suggesting the introduction of staking and smart contracts on the XRP Ledger (XRPL).

Company CEO Brad Garlinghouse and CTO David Schwartz also shed light on the same, while suggesting the next line of action.

The Possibility of Native Staking on XRP Ledger

Ripple’s head of engineering, Ayo Akinyele, said XRP is entering a new phase as its use cases expand from fast, low-cost payments to settling tokenized assets and supporting real-time liquidity across markets.

Furthermore, the blockchain firm is seeing greater real-world utility with top financial giants like Mastercard using the RLUSD stablecoin on the XRP Ledger, per the CNF report.

With the first spot XRP ETF launched by Canary and additional products expected soon, Akinyele noted that institutional adoption of tokenized treasuries and money market funds is accelerating.

Akinyele said these developments prompted internal discussions, including with Ripple CTO David Schwartz, about whether native staking could one day be supported on the XRP Ledger. Unlike traditional staking models, XRP burns transaction fees.

Moreover, it is designed for rapid settlement and gives validators equal voting power regardless of token holdings.

Akinyele noted that enabling staking would require both a source of rewards and a fair distribution mechanism, each of which would alter value flows on the network and require careful consideration. Adding more weight to this discussion, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said:

Exploring Key DeFi Capabilities on XRPL

Ripple CTO David Schwartz said the XRP Ledger, launched in 2012, is being reevaluated as the broader blockchain landscape continues to evolve. Schwartz noted that his views on governance and consensus have shifted over time, prompting a closer look at how XRP is now used across DeFi.

With ongoing efforts to add programmability and explore smart contract features, he said it is an opportune moment to consider what additional DeFi capabilities could be integrated directly into the XRP Ledger. Commenting on this, one validator Vet, wrote:

In response, Schwartz outlined two potential changes to the XRPL design. One concept involves shifting to a two-layer consensus model, where an incentivized inner layer of 16 validators would be selected by the outer layer based on stake. This inner group would use staking and slashing mechanisms solely to advance the XRP ledger.

A second idea would keep the existing consensus model intact but redirect transaction fees to fund zero-knowledge proofs that verify smart contract execution. Under this approach, nodes would not need to run the smart contracts themselves, relying instead on ZK proofs for validation.

Schwartz emphasized that while both proposals are technically compelling, neither is likely to be adopted in the near term.