XRP News Today: Institutional Trust Meets Blockchain with Ripple’s New Identity Layer

Ripple’s XRP Ledger has taken a significant step forward in its evolution with the activation of the "Credentials" amendment, a pivotal update designed to integrate on-chain KYC/AML controls into the protocol. Activated on September 4, 2025, the amendment introduces a new standards-aligned identity layer that allows for decentralized identity verification, enhancing the ledger’s utility for institutional and regulated use cases.

The Credentials amendment, known as XLS-0070, enables issuers to create, accept, and revoke credentials attesting to compliance-related facts—such as KYC checks or sanctions status—without exposing sensitive documents on the blockchain. This is achieved through three new transaction types: CredentialCreate, CredentialAccept, and CredentialDelete, alongside a new Credential ledger entry. These tools allow users to maintain privacy while still participating in a trusted ecosystem. The amendment also enhances the DepositPreauth feature, allowing deposit authorization to be expressed in terms of required credentials, and adds a CredentialIDs field to several transaction types, including Payment and EscrowFinish, to enable credential-based compliance gates.

This update aligns with the broader goal of making the XRP Ledger more attractive to institutional participants by providing a robust framework for managing authorization and compliance requirements in a decentralized and privacy-respecting manner. Ripple’s documentation emphasizes that the Credentials feature is modular and reusable, serving as a foundation for future features such as Permissioned Domains and a Permissioned DEX, which may require participants to present valid credentials for access to certain markets or liquidity.

The activation of the Credentials amendment followed the XRPL’s amendment governance model, requiring an 80%+ validator supermajority over two weeks, which was achieved with strong support from the network. Once enabled, the new rules became permanent for all subsequent ledgers, ensuring that the updated protocol remains consistent across the network.

From an implementation standpoint, the feature has been in development for months, with Ripple providing extensive guidance for developers through its reference server and documentation. The mainnet enablement marks a transition from a testing phase to full production readiness, allowing issuers, exchanges, and fintechs to build credential-gated flows that settle atomically on the XRP Ledger.

Technically, the amendment is both conservative and far-reaching. By allowing CredentialIDs to be included in standard Payment transactions, institutions can enforce compliance policies directly at the protocol layer. For instance, a financial institution could configure its DepositPreauth rules to only accept deposits from accounts that hold a valid KYC credential issued by a trusted issuer. This level of control is recorded in transaction metadata, improving auditability for regulated entities.

Combined with other primitives like trust lines, AMMs, and the DEX, the Credentials amendment opens the door for more sophisticated programmatic policies. For example, an institution could route cross-currency transactions through permissioned markets if both parties meet domain-specific compliance requirements, effectively enabling a new layer of programmable finance on the XRP Ledger.

The activation of the Credentials amendment comes amid a broader wave of technical upgrades for the XRP Ledger. In the weeks leading up to its activation, three other amendments were implemented, addressing issues related to AMM functionality, NFToken trustlines, and payment channel optimizations. These updates highlight the ongoing effort to refine and strengthen the XRP Ledger’s technical foundation.

In parallel, XRP has seen notable price action, with the token gaining approximately 400% over the past year, outperforming both Bitcoin and Ethereum. While recent volatility has seen a brief pullback, the asset has stabilized around $2.87 as of late September 2025, with traders watching for potential movements above the $3.09 resistance level.

The interplay between technical advancements and market dynamics remains a key theme for XRP investors. While the Credentials amendment is a significant milestone for the XRP Ledger’s institutional roadmap, its impact on price will depend on broader market sentiment, adoption trends, and the integration of these features by financial institutions.

Source:

[1] title1 (https://xrpl.org/resources/known-amendments)

[2] title2 (https://www.bitget.com/news/detail/12560604950297)

[3] title3 (https://www.mitrade.com/insights/news/live-news/article-3-1095101-20250904)

[4] title4 (https://www.bitget.com/wiki/xrp-or-ethereum-which-is-better)