Ripple Set to Enhance XRP Ledger with Programmability Inspired by Ethereum

The team at Ripple is set to introduce additional programmable features to the XRP Ledger (XRPL). This was shared by David Schwartz, the CTO of the company, during an interview with DL News.

This update, which is described as being «in the spirit of Ethereum», will include the introduction of smart contracts for payment management as well as a new lending protocol.

According to Schwartz, the objective is to harness the benefits of programmability while minimizing associated risks. While the team does not aim to achieve the same level of flexibility as Ethereum, they are focused on enhancing the capabilities of XRPL. For instance, the smart contracts will allow for the automatic conversion of received funds into a user-preferred asset.

The lending protocol, expected to launch in the third quarter, will be hybrid in nature. An off-chain agent will oversee borrower management and debt collection, while XRPL will tokenize interest from repayments and handle the distribution of payments.

«It’s a kind of healthy separation between TradFi on the front end and DeFi on the back end,” Schwartz explained.

In addition to these technical enhancements, Ripple is actively pursuing acquisitions of other companies.

«Our mergers and acquisitions department is quite busy. We have several potential deals at various stages,” Schwartz stated.

Recently, Ripple acquired the cryptocurrency broker Hidden Road as well as custody firms Metaco and Standard Custody. Schwartz noted that crypto companies currently have a unique opportunity for acquisitions, as traditional financial giants on Wall Street have yet to engage in active competition for these assets.

To remind, in June, the investment firm Guggenheim Treasury Services launched digital commercial paper on XRPL.

Subsequently, Circle released the USDC stablecoin on the Ripple network.