Ripple recently announced a partnership with the Axelar Foundation aimed at boosting interoperability within the XRP Ledger (XRPL) blockchain. The focus of this collaboration is to advance the tokenization of real-world assets (RWAs) within the XRPL ecosystem. By integrating the Axelar network with the XRPL, the goal is to strengthen the layer 1’s DeFi ecosystem and provide necessary liquidity for stablecoins and high-value assets.
The partnership between Ripple and Axelar Foundation is significant for developers, as they will be able to leverage the XRPL’s inherent features to enhance their projects. These features include the XRPL’s native decentralized exchange (DEX), upcoming automated market maker (AMM), and renowned payment system known for its security and efficiency. The emphasis on tokenization of real-world assets is a major trend in the crypto industry, attracting interest from individual users and institutional players alike.
One of the key aspects of the partnership is Axelar’s network facilitating the deployment of cross-chain decentralized applications (dApps) directly on the XRPL. In addition to conventional asset bridging, Axelar introduces General Message Passing (GMP), which allows developers to execute function calls on smart contracts across more than 55 interconnected blockchains. This functionality is expected to enhance the XRPL’s capabilities and enable secure cross-chain exchange of various payloads, including data and function calls.
David Schwartz, Ripple’s CTO and Co-creator of the XRPL, expressed his enthusiasm for the partnership with Axelar Foundation. He highlighted the impact of Axelar’s initiative on enhancing the XRPL’s interoperability by extending it to a wider network of blockchain environments. The collaboration with Axelar complements the XRPL’s rich feature set and opens up new pathways for utility and innovation within the ecosystem.
Ripple’s XLS-38 proposal laid the groundwork for improving interoperability within the XRPL ecosystem by bridging connections between the mainnet and sidechains. The partnership with Axelar Foundation takes this interoperability a step further by linking the XRPL with Axelar’s network of interconnected blockchains. This collaboration expands the horizons of interoperability and allows XRPL to access new ecosystems, driving multi-chain innovation within the blockchain space.
The XRP Ledger (XRPL) has been operational for over a decade, with recent data from a Messari report showcasing mixed trends in network activity. While active addresses on XRPL decreased by 31.3% compared to the previous quarter, transactions saw a 22.7% increase during the same period. Notably, there was a significant surge in NFT mints, with a 491% increase quarter-over-quarter, leading to a 170% rise in total NFT transactions. In the fourth quarter of 2023 alone, there were 3.4 million NFT mints, accounting for more than half of all mints since the introduction of the XLS-20 standard in 2022.
Ripple’s partnership with Axelar Foundation signifies a major step towards advancing interoperability and tokenization of real-world assets within the XRPL ecosystem. The integration of Axelar’s network with XRPL’s features is expected to drive innovation and utility within the decentralized finance space, opening up new possibilities for developers and users alike. The collaboration with Axelar Foundation not only enhances the XRPL’s capabilities but also paves the way for multi-chain innovation and cross-chain interoperability in the evolving blockchain landscape.