While native staking is not a confirmed part of the 2025 roadmap, it is a active and high-level engineering discussion within Ripple, driven by the goal to significantly expand XRP’s utility and the XRP Ledger’s (XRPL) appeal in the competitive DeFi landscape.
A Push to Expand Utility Beyond Payments
The conversation around native XRP staking is being led by senior Ripple engineers, including J. Ayo Akinyele, RippleX’s Head of Engineering. He recently explored the question, “What if the XRP Ledger supported native staking?”. This isn’t just a theoretical exercise; it’s a direct response to the XRPL’s relatively small footprint in the decentralized finance (DeFi) world. With a Total Value Locked (TVL) of around $75 million, it lags far behind competitors like Ethereum and Solana, which have thriving staking economies.
The core motivation is to align incentives better for network participants. Unlike Proof-of-Stake blockchains, XRPL validators are not directly incentivized with monetary rewards. Introducing staking could change this, creating a sustainable way to reward participation and strengthen engagement, thereby securing the network while giving holders a new way to earn yield on their assets.
The Technical Hurdles on the Path to Staking
Implementing native staking is a major technical challenge that would require rethinking fundamental aspects of the XRPL’s design. As Akinyele notes, two things are essential: “first, a source of staking rewards, and second, a way to distribute them fairly”.
The XRPL’s current consensus mechanism, which burns transaction fees rather than redistributing them, lacks a built-in reward system. David Schwartz, Ripple’s Chief Technology Officer, has outlined two experimental ideas the engineering community is considering. One is a two-layer consensus model where an inner layer of validators is chosen based on stake. The other involves using transaction fees to pay for zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) to verify smart contract execution, though Schwartz describes both as complex and not viable “any time soon”. Any solution must be carefully designed to avoid compromising the network’s hallmark speed, low cost, and stability.
A Broader Strategy for Institutional DeFi
The staking discussion is part of a larger, aggressive push to position XRPL as the leading blockchain for institutional finance. Ripple President Monica Long recently outlined a strategy focused on a “flywheel effect” between utility, trust, and liquidity . Key to this are:
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A Native Lending Protocol: This is a confirmed upcoming feature that will allow businesses to use XRP for credit and lending directly on the ledger, moving beyond just holding it .
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Boosting Institutional Confidence: The network is rolling out enterprise-grade features like “Credentials” for KYC compliance and “Deep Freeze” for regulatory control over assets, making it safer for large financial players to operate on-chain.
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Major Financial Backing: A recent $500 million strategic investment from firms like Fortress Investment Group and Citadel Securities, valuing Ripple at $40 billion, provides a powerful war chest to execute this ambitious roadmap.
The Road Ahead for XRP Staking
While native staking remains a complex, forward-looking concept rather than an imminent launch, its serious consideration by Ripple’s engineers signals a clear direction. The successful launch of other key features, like the native lending protocol, will be crucial stepping stones.
For the XRP community, the prospect of staking offers a future where the asset is not only a tool for fast settlements but also a yield-generating instrument. If these technical and strategic efforts succeed, they could fundamentally transform the XRP Ledger from a specialized payments network into a comprehensive, institution-friendly DeFi hub.
