Ripple Eyes Native Staking, ‘Two-Layer’ XRPL Upgrade
The post Ripple Eyes Native Staking, ‘Two-Layer’ XRPL Upgrade appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.
Ripple leaders are discussing adding native staking and DeFi capabilities to the XRP Ledger. CTO David Schwartz proposed a “two-layer” consensus to separate governance from compute. The move follows the launch of the Canary XRP ETF, signaling a pivot to institutional DeFi. The XRP Ledger (XRPL), which began as a settlement network in 2012 is now heading for a major change in utility, as Ripple CTO David Schwartz and RippleX Head of Engineering J. Ayo Akinyele open the door to native DeFi capabilities and even the possibility of staking. The move follows the launch of the first XRP spot ETF by Canary. Schwartz said that the blockchain world has changed since XRPL’s debut and developers now need to reconsider long-held assumptions about governance, incentives, and how value should flow across the network. Related: XRP Price Prediction: XRP Price Sits at a Critical Turning Point as Downtrend Holds Why Ripple Is Considering Native Staking Now Historically, XRP has served as a fast, efficient bridge asset and liquidity instrument. It powered payments, enabled settlement of tokenized assets, and facilitated real-time movement of value across global markets. But the arrival of institutional-grade products like tokenized Treasuries, money market funds, and ETFs has flipped the table completely. Schwartz and Akinyele both note that XRP is being used in DeFi environments through external protocols such as Flare, Axelar, MoreMarkets, and Doppler. Akinyele questioned if soon XRPL will support native staking. While staking is typically used to align economic incentives between validators and token holders, XRPL operates differently. Transaction fees are burned. Validators have equal influence regardless of token ownership. Any introduction of staking would therefore represent a major shift. The ‘Two-Layer’ Solution: Splitting Governance from Compute To address challenges, Schwartz brought two early conceptual frameworks. The first is a two-layer consensus design that keeps XRPL’s…
Filed under: News - @ November 19, 2025 11:26 am