The San Francisco-based company has begun testing an Ethereum-compatible sidechain for its XRP Ledger for greater cross-compatibility.
In an announcement on the RippleX Developer portal on October 17, engineer Mayukha Vadari said that the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) sidechain for XRPL is now live on the devnet.
The system to bring more Ethereum compatibility to Ripple was initially introduced in September 2021, but it was eventually rolled out for wider testing and development.
Vadari said that blockchain technology company Peersyst has implemented a sidechain so that developers can bring Solidity smart contracts to Ripple’s ledger.
Ripple EVM Roadmap
The first phase of the launch also includes a bridge between the EVM chain and the XRP Ledger Devnet so that developers can have access to both options.
According to the announcement, the second phase, scheduled for early 2023, will feature “a permissionless and bridged sidechain EVM with a unique design that connects to XRPL Devnet to expand participation and test capabilities. expand in a controlled environment.”
The third phase is the rollout to the mainnet, but no timeframe has been given yet. The EVM sidechain, which uses XRP as its native currency, will support Ethereum smart contracts and decentralized applications such as popular browser wallets MetaMask, Remix, and Truffle.
Vadari said that making the XRPL EVM compatible could “undermine its efficiency, scalability, and security” before adding:
“So, instead of forcing developers to choose between chains, Peersyst and Ripple teamed up to create an EVM sidechain connected to the main XRPL.”
Ripple doesn’t just want an Ethereum-compatible sidechain. Back in January, it launched its own NFT protocol and token standard called XLS-20, which allows developers to mint NFTs directly on the XRP Ledger. It was slated to launch last month but has yet to be implemented.
XRP Price Reaction
Ripple’s native XRP token hasn’t shown much reaction to the devnet rollout, gaining only 1.5% on the day.
XRP is currently trading at $0.474, having lost 13% in the past week. However, progress with the ongoing SEC battle has sent XRP prices up 26% over the past month, as most other altcoins continue to fall.
XRP is now down 86% from its January 2018 all-time high of $3.40. There is likely to be another hit if the company wins over the SEC, which has accused it of carrying out an unregistered securities sale although a ruling is unlikely until the first half of 2023.
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