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What is the XRPL EVM?
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What is the XRPL EVM?

The XRPL Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) Sidechain is a sovereign Layer-1 blockchain developed by Peersyst in partnership with Ripple. It extends the XRP Ledger ecosystem with full EVM compatibility for XRP, enabling developers to deploy Ethereum smart contracts, DeFi protocols, and NFTs on a separate chain while keeping XRP as the native gas currency.

Built on the Cosmos SDK and secured by CometBFT (formerly Tendermint Core), the XRPL EVM inherits deterministic finality, modularity, and high throughput, while remaining independent of XRPL consensus. Interoperability is enabled via the Axelar Network and IBC (Inter-Blockchain Communication), ensuring fluid connections across XRPL, Ethereum, and the Cosmos ecosystem.

📂 Repositories:

Architectural Overview

⚙️ Base Layer: Cosmos SDK

The XRPL EVM is built with the Cosmos SDK, a modular framework that allows developers to compose blockchains with custom modules (governance, staking, fees, bridges). This sovereignty ensures the XRPL EVM can define its own economics, governance, and upgrade path without relying on the XRPL or Ethereum mainnet.

🔗 Execution Layer: From evmOS → Cosmos EVM

The chain originally integrated evmOS (legacy Evmos) as the EVM execution module. However, it is migrating to Cosmos EVM — a next-generation EVM implementation designed specifically for the Cosmos SDK.

  • Legacy State (evmOS):

    • EVM Version: Paris
    • Solidity Compiler: solc ≤ 0.8.24

  • Upcoming State (Cosmos EVM):

    • EVM Version: Prague
    • Solidity Compiler: solc 0.8.30

This migration improves EVM equivalence, performance, and developer tooling compatibility, ensuring dApps built for Ethereum’s latest forks can be deployed on XRPL EVM with minimal changes.

🔒 Consensus Layer: CometBFT

Consensus and networking are powered by CometBFT (Tendermint BFT). This provides:

  • Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT): Security even if up to 1/3 of validators act maliciously.
  • Deterministic Finality: Blocks are finalized in ~5 seconds with no probabilistic rollbacks.
  • Networking Layer: Optimized p2p stack decoupled from application logic.

Governance: Proof-of-Authority (PoA)

Unlike the XRP Ledger (which uses a unique node list consensus), the XRPL EVM currently operates under a Proof-of-Authority (PoA) model.

  • Validators: A restricted set of entities authorized to produce blocks and participate in governance.
  • Decentralization Roadmap: Ripple, Peersyst, and early partners currently operate validators, but governance is designed to progressively decentralize as the ecosystem matures.
  • PoA Tradeoff: This design prioritizes performance and security in the early stages, while paving the way toward a broader validator set once mainnet adoption stabilizes.

XRP as the Native Currency

The XRPL EVM introduces XRP as native gas:

  • XRP is bridged from the XRPL via Axelar, minted on the EVM sidechain, and circulates natively as the fee token.
  • This means all dApps, contracts, and users interact using the same XRP they already know, without introducing a new utility token.
  • Bridges are provisioning mechanisms only — once XRP is inside the XRPL EVM, it is native to the chain. Consensus does not depend on external bridges.

This alignment ensures the XRPL ecosystem gains programmability without fragmenting liquidity into new, redundant tokens.

Interoperability

🌉 Bridges

  • Axelar Bridge: Moves XRP and other assets into XRPL EVM, with support for General Message Passing (GMP), allowing contract-to-contract calls across chains.

🌐 IBC (Inter-Blockchain Communication)

The XRPL EVM supports IBC, unlocking interoperability with the Cosmos Hub, Osmosis, Elys, Noble, Injective and potentially hundreds of IBC-enabled chains. This extends XRPL liquidity into the entire Cosmos multichain environment.

Wormhole Integration

Wormhole, one of the leading cross-chain interoperability protocols, is integrating with the XRPL EVM Sidechain.

Ripple Expands Multichain Interoperability Infrastructure with Wormhole Integration

Developer Experience

The XRPL EVM is designed to be Ethereum-equivalent, meaning Solidity developers can build without learning new tools or languages:

  • Languages: Solidity (≤0.8.24 now, 0.8.30 after Cosmos EVM upgrade).
  • EVM Compatibility: Currently Paris fork → upgrading to Prague fork.
  • Tools: Works with Remix, Truffle, Hardhat, Foundry, MetaMask, and Keplr.
  • RPC & APIs: Standard Ethereum JSON-RPC endpoints are exposed by nodes (xrplevm/node).

What This Brings to the XRP Ecosystem

The XRPL EVM extends the utility of XRP beyond payments by enabling it to fuel smart contracts and DeFi applications:

  1. DeFi for XRP:

    • Lending, borrowing, and yield farming with XRP as gas and collateral.
    • AMMs, liquidity pools, and synthetic assets.

  2. Cross-Chain Liquidity:

    • XRP gains direct interoperability with Ethereum and Cosmos assets.
    • Enables multi-chain DEXes, NFT marketplaces, and cross-ecosystem dApps.

  3. Programmable Payments:

    • Combine XRPL’s payment rails with EVM programmability.
    • Automated settlements, escrow, tokenized cross-border transactions.

  4. Developer Onboarding:

    • Ethereum developers can join the XRP ecosystem without changing tooling.
    • Expands the XRPL ecosystem with a new wave of dApps leveraging XRP liquidity.

The XRPL EVM is a sovereign Cosmos SDK blockchain that:

  • Uses XRP as native gas.
  • Runs CometBFT consensus under a PoA validator set.
  • Is migrating from evmOS → Cosmos EVM, moving from Paris → Prague fork with solc 0.8.30.
  • Connects to XRPL, Ethereum, and Cosmos via Axelar + IBC.
  • Unlocks programmability, DeFi, and multichain utility for the XRP ecosystem.