Validator Support Increases, XRP Ledger Lending System Nears Approval
The XRP Ledger (XRPL) lending system is one step closer to approval, with more trusted validators signaling their support for the proposed LendingProtocol amendment. The proposal has collected 22 of the required 29 votes to begin its activation countdown and needs seven more validator votes.
Meanwhile, the network continues to see substantial on-chain activity, processing 3.9 million transactions on Nov. 11. The developments indicate growing interest in XRPL’s lending infrastructure as developers seek to expand its decentralized finance (DeFi) capabilities. ## Increasing Validator Support for XRP Ledger Lending System
Trusted validators are lining up to back the XRP Ledger’s proposed lending infrastructure, bringing the LendingProtocol amendment closer to the threshold of approval it needs. The voting record for the amendment shows that 22 out of 35 trusted validators have voted for the proposal, and it needs seven more votes to reach the minimum requirement of 29.
The proposal has now reached approximately 63% approval, moving closer to the 80% approval required by XRPL’s amendment rules. However, the amendment is still in the voting process, and has not yet started its countdown to activation.
Other validator-watching amendments related to lending are gaining attention. SingleAssetVault 23 votes 6 more votes needed LendingProtocolV1_1 22 votes Both proposals are also moving through the voting process.
The changes are intended to bring lending and vault functionality to the XRP Ledger. Their progress can support structured lending products and institutional decentralized finance services, extending the financial applications of the network.
XRPL Lending Approval Needs 29 Validator Votes for 14 Days
Major protocol upgrades on the XRP Ledger are approved through a validator-based amendment process. According to its rules, an amendment needs the support of at least 80% of trusted validators for a continuous period of 14 days to become active.
There are 35 trusted validators in the process and a proposal must get at least 29 positive votes to be accepted. Reaching this number starts the activation countdown, but it doesn’t immediately activate the amendment.
And if validator support drops below the required minimum during the 14 days, the clock resets. It ensures there’s enough agreement from the validators on changes to protocol rules before they are live on the network.
In September, RippleX opened voting on the LendingProtocolV1_1 amendment. The proposal brings in a closed-ended vault functionality and changes how lending income is accounted for in the XRP Ledger accounting system.
The proposed design suggests that there are three main stages of vault operations: subscription, investment and redemption. The new rules also allow vaults to recognize interest income when borrowers make payments.
XRP Ledger Processes 3.9 Million Transactions amid DeFi Expansion
On-chain data shows that the XRP Ledger is still busy on the payments and decentralized trading app side as validators continue voting on the lending amendments.
On November 11, the network processed around 3.9 million transactions, registering activity across various blockchain services. Of these transactions, roughly 659,300 were payments and about 42,400 sending addresses were active on the network.
The surge in Decentralized exchange (DEX) activity also gave a substantial boost to the transaction volume of the network. Over the same time period, the XRP Ledger saw approximately 956,300 DEX transactions and 153,800 swaps.
The network as a whole saw some $1.1 billion of trading volume, showing continued activity in its decentralized trading ecosystem.
These numbers provide context for the lending amendments. While the upgrade still needs to be approved by validators to go live, the transaction activity demonstrates current use of XRPL for payments and decentralized financial operations.
Ripple’s XLS-66 Lending Protocol Will Enable Fixed-Term Loans
Ripple has a specification called XLS-66 which defines a lending framework for fixed-term loans using shared asset vaults. In the suggested framework, XRP and other supported tokens could be placed into vaults for lending activities.
The system separates borrower assessment from blockchain-based loan management. Loan brokers would evaluate borrowers off-chain, while the XRP Ledger would record loan creation, repayment activity and defaults.
Another important feature is the first loss capital component. This mechanism allows brokers to inject capital to cover initial losses where borrowers default on their loans. It may help to structure the lending arrangements and to provide additional protection to the participating lenders.
The interest of institutions in this infrastructure is also changing. Clearpool has previously stated its desire to utilize XRPL’s planned lending infrastructure to offer institutional credit services, pointing to the XLS-65 and XLS-66 specifications.
Developers submitted additional changes to the XRPL codebase on November 4, such as storing loan data directly in ledger entries and adding an optional sequence check when creating loans. But these development changes have nothing to do with amendments that are currently being voted on by validators.
Lending Approval Nears as XRP Price Remains Under Pressure
While the lending proposal has moved forward and network activity is holding steady, XRP’s market performance remains under pressure. At the time of reporting, XRP was trading at around $1.04, down 1.21% in the last 24 hours.
The lending amendments could strengthen the financial infrastructure of the XRP Ledger, particularly in institutional lending and decentralized credit applications. However, their activation is still contingent on receiving enough validator support and the requisite 14-day approval countdown.
Investors and developers will be looking to see if LendingProtocol can get the remaining seven votes it needs and if the related vault amendments can pass their respective approval thresholds.
