XRP News Today: XRPL Launches EVM Sidechain Boosting Developer Potential

The XRP Ledger has officially entered a new era with the launch of the XRPL EVM Sidechain, marking a significant advancement in functionality, interoperability, and developer potential. This achievement is the result of over three years of collaborative development between Peersyst Technology and RippleX, bringing Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatibility directly to the XRPL ecosystem.

The XRPL EVM Sidechain integrates full support for Ethereum-based smart contracts, enabling developers to build and deploy decentralized applications (dApps) using familiar tools such as MetaMask, Remix, and Truffle. Unlike Ethereum’s often congested and expensive environment, the XRPL EVM Sidechain offers faster finality, under four seconds, and extremely low transaction fees, making it an efficient alternative for developers.

Underpinned by Proof-of-Authority (PoA) consensus and built with the Cosmos SDK and evmOS, the sidechain brings XRPL’s speed and scalability to the broader Web3 space. It enables the use of native XRP (wrapped as eXRP) as the gas token, linking XRP directly to EVM-compatible applications for the first time.

Coinciding with the launch of the sidechain is the activation of the Axelar bridge, the exclusive connection between the XRPL mainnet and its EVM counterpart. This bridge unlocks seamless, one-to-one asset transfers across more than 55 supported blockchains. Axelar’s decentralized infrastructure, powered by a network of 75 validators and enhanced by automatic key rotation, ensures high security and reliability. The decision to use a unified bridge infrastructure simplifies the development process while improving user experience. Peersyst has praised Axelar’s readiness and robust performance as a critical factor in the success of this launch.

Developer interest in the XRPL EVM Sidechain is already strong. During the testnet phase, the sidechain handled over 280,000 transactions per day, with participation from 87 different teams, including many building on XRP for the first time. Peersyst hailed the testnet activity as “the biggest onboarding in XRP history.” Now live, the sidechain invites developers to deploy their protocols, list XRP, and expand the XRP Ledger’s presence across DeFi, NFTs, and real-world asset (RWA) sectors. As Peersyst emphasized, “It’s TIME!”—Day One marks the beginning of steady integration by wallets, infrastructure providers, and dApps.

This launch sets the stage for future enhancements to the XRP Ledger, including Smart Escrows and native Extensions, expected to enter devnet testing later in 2025. While the XLS-38 proposal remains under review, Ripple has signaled it will wait for clear developer demand before supporting mainnet integration. With EVM compatibility, fast execution, low fees, and secure cross-chain interoperability now live, the XRPL EVM Sidechain establishes XRP as a key player in the multi-chain future of Web3. As Peersyst and its partners have made clear, this is only the beginning.