5 Game-Changing XRP Ledger Developments You Can’t Afford to Miss in 2025

The XRP Ledger isn't just surviving—it's evolving at breakneck speed. Here's what's shaking up the ecosystem this year.

Hooks Go Live: Smart Contracts Finally Arrive

After years of 'coming soon' promises, Hooks bring Turing-complete smart contracts to XRPL. TradFi banks are already sweating over the compliance paperwork.

AMM Volume Shatters Records

Decentralized trading volume on XRPL's native AMM just crossed $500M daily—proof that real DeFi doesn't need vaporware tokens to move liquidity.

CBDC Sandbox Attracts 14 Central Banks

From digital yen to e-euro prototypes, monetary bureaucrats are quietly testing the only blockchain that won't give their IT departments aneurysms.

Sidechains Solve the Scalability Debate

Private XRPL forks now process 10,000+ TPS without touching the mainnet—take that, Ethereum maximalists.

Flare Network Integration Goes Live

Suddenly XRP isn't just for payments anymore—price oracles and smart contract interoperability just got real.

Meanwhile, Wall Street still can't tell the difference between a blockchain and a Excel spreadsheet. Some things never change.

XRP Ledger Integrates Wormhole For Network Interoperability 

In an X post, Wormhole announced that it has partnered with Ripple to bring multichain interoperability to the XRP Ledger and the upcoming XRPL EVM Sidechain. Wormhole will be the core interoperability platform for the XRPL ecosystem. This integration will further expand the network’s adoption, as users will now be able to transfer their assets from the XRPL to other major networks. 

Wormhole also noted that this WOULD bring new connectivity for developers and institutions looking to build multichain applications, whether for payments, DeFi, and RWA use cases. The XRP Ledger continues to expand, considering the integration and launch of new initiatives on the network, including the recent integration of Circle’s USDC stablecoin. 

Furthermore, Bitcoinist reported that the European Central Bank (ECB) is testing the XRP Ledger for bond settlement. Specifically, the ECB is working on the Axiology DLT Trading and Settlement System (TSS). However, it is worth mentioning that Axiology is a “private, permissioned infrastructure” which is built using the XRPL’s open-source code. As such, this bond settlement won’t exactly run on the network. 

Ripple Chief Technology Officer (CTO) David Schwartz declared that Real World Assets (RWAs) will drive the next wave of adoption for the XRP Ledger. This explains why the network is actively promoting asset tokenization. ONDO Finance recently launched its tokenized US Treasury fund (OUSG) on the network. Meanwhile, Guggenheim partnered with Ripple to launch the first Digital Commercial Paper on the XRPL.

XRPL Gets A New Lift With Software Upgrade

The XRPL Ledger is also set to witness new improvements with the Rippled 2.5.0 version, which just went live. The network upgrade includes major features such as a permissioned decentralized exchange (DEX). This adds DEXs that control who can participate and allows for compliant trading. 

It marks a major step towards onboarding institutions as these regulated players can trade on the XRP Ledger’s DEX using verified credentials. The feature also enables KYC-gated FX swaps and stablecoin flows. Essentially, this permissioned DEX feature promotes compliance and is expected to attract more developers. 

Another feature introduced by the XRP Ledger upgrade is Permission Delegation, which enables accounts to delegate permissions to other accounts for management and automation purposes. In an X post, Ripple developers explained that the potential use cases for this feature include MiCA compliance, RLUSD stablecoin operations, and corporate treasury management.

The upgrade also introduces support for IOUs and MPTs under token escrow. The XRP Ledger’s escrow feature would support other tokens besides XRP. There is also the batch feature, which adds the ability to group multiple transactions and execute them together.

At the time of writing, the xrp price is trading at around $2.09, down over 2% in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap.