In a tweet shared by blockchain development firm Peersyst Technology on October 17, it was confirmed that a devnet version of an EVM-compatible XRP Ledger sidechain had been launched. The XRP Ledger devnet is essentially a test environment for the technology platform made with the primary goal of introducing new tech to developers to test in consideration of potential future implementation in a live network environment.
While the news did not have an immediate impact on the charts, as the price of XRP is already up almost 24% in value over the last month, the tweet was met with a great deal of enthusiasm from supporters. The community and Ripple Labs team have seemed to grow stronger by many metrics during a time when Ripple has been made to endure a significant top-level legal challenge.
Ripple Labs Continues To Develop Amidst Legal Dispute
Ripple has been engaged in an ongoing battle that has lasted for almost two years with the SEC, over claims that the sale of the XRP network token was an unregistered security offering. XRP lawsuit news has been a consistent topic covered across crypto and non-crypto-related media through much of the year, and prior, dating back to the announcement of the suit in December 2020.
Despite the lawsuit and the interruption of business in the US jurisdiction during the time which the long-standing court battle ensued, Ripple has maintained and even built upon its operations. Those operations are heavily centered around the use of the XRP payment ledger and global digital transaction network.
The news of the sidechain test phase launch and development evidence an ongoing focus of Ripple Labs to continue to innovate. It could also be seen as evidence of the belief held by individuals and companies that rely on the technological elements of the XRP Ledger and the associated blockchain-based ecosystem. Peersyst Technology makes clear in the tweet, its a “thrill to announce” the launch and development of the new sidechain and bridge as well as the “gigantic possibilities to all developers and businesses who put their trust in @ Ripple”.
Details Of The EVM-Compatible Sidechain
This test phase launch of the new sidechain is a hopeful first step towards the inclusion of smart contracts to the XRP ledger environment for the first time ever. The EVM-compatible sidechain was custom-built using the Tendermint protocol. It aims to achieve processing speeds of around 1,000 transactions per second.
The sidechain is expected to enable the porting of popular Ethereum decentralized applications such as Uniswap, onto the XRP Ledger environment, which hosts enough regular users to carry potentially monumental impact for both the XRP and Ethereum blockchain ecosystems. There is also a bridge which accompanies the recently launched EVM-compatible sidechain. The bridge is designed to enable the transfer of assets to and from the Ethereum EVM network and the XRP Ledger Devnet for now.
Three Phases To The End Goal
The full sidechain launch is planned in three phases. This first phase, the devnet launch, is now underway, while the second phase will render the sidechain and bridge permissionless, with improvements to scalability. It was also mentioned by RippleX software engineer, Mayukha Vidari that the second phase, expected in early 2023, should also enhance block times to reach similar speeds as what is achieved on the XRPL.
Finally, phase three marks the currently stated end goal of the network, which is a fully functional sidechain and bridge on the XRPL mainnet. While the growth and adoption of Ripple and XRP may certainly have been affected by the ongoing lawsuit with the SEC, the company and technology continue to offer solutions for the current and future state of the digital economy.
This move to merge with the second-largest cryptocurrency ecosystem, Ethereum, when XRP itself falls just behind ETH as the second-largest altcoin on the entire cryptocurrency market, could have major implications in the future of blockchain and perhaps even global finance as the blockchain is embraced by more major companies and financial institutions.
