Ripple, the San Francisco-based blockchain payments company, is preparing significant technological upgrades for XRP Ledger (XRPL) set to launch in 2027, according to Viijay Khanna, Ripple’s director of engineering. The announcement came amid ongoing discussions about XRPL’s transaction speed, with some critics highlighting its 1,500 transactions per second (TPS) metric as falling short when compared to legacy financial networks such as Visa.
Plans for XRPL scalability and modernization
Khanna directly addressed concerns by stating that Ripple has “big plans for performance improvements lined up for 2027.” He emphasized a strategic shift in Ripple’s approach to the commonly cited TPS metric. Rather than further boosting the transaction rate at the base layer, Ripple now aims to limit the core blockchain’s function to processing large-scale institutional movements. Smaller, retail-level transactions would instead be handled by secondary solutions such as Dassie, which utilizes Interledger protocols for increased efficiency.
This adjustment will allow XRPL’s core infrastructure to primarily facilitate the transfer and settlement of substantial funds between banks and other financial institutions, aligning the network’s evolution with commercial banking demands rather than consumer microtransactions.
Mini dictionary: Dassie, an Interledger-based protocol developing Layer-2 scaling solutions, aims to offload retail and microtransaction traffic from primary blockchains by enabling faster, lower-cost transfers across different payment networks.
Recent technical improvements
Earlier this month, Ripple released xrpld 3.3.0, a new version of the XRPL node software. This update reduced memory consumption for network nodes by 13% to 23%, according to technical audits. These optimizations came after engineers found that the system’s resource allocator retained server resources longer than necessary, even after cache clearing. The resulting bug fix now enables validators to significantly lower their infrastructure costs.
In addition, the fixCleanup package was rolled out on November 4 to further improve the network’s operational environment.
Ripple’s engineering team confirmed that the latest releases focus on making the XRPL more resource-efficient, reducing infrastructure costs, and providing a foundation for institutional-scale improvements.
Strategic initiatives and future roadmap
Ripple’s engineering changes are part of a broader roadmap to align XRPL with the requirements of commercial banks. Monica Long, Ripple’s president, recently stated that a significant share of Ripple’s client payment flows will be processed directly via XRPL. Simultaneously, cross-border remittance transactions are scheduled to be integrated with new lending infrastructure across the platform.
The XRP Ledger Foundation, the entity overseeing the development of the ledger, has already unveiled a detailed 2027 roadmap. Key highlights of this plan include:
- Deployment of 24 complex protocol amendments with an allocated budget of $5.774 million for development and demo audits.
- Introduction of native smart contract support using WebAssembly (XLS-101), the creation of lending pools and options through XLS-62, and the launch of repo markets to facilitate interbank lending via tokenized assets.
- Optimization of pathfinding processes within XRPL’s decentralized exchange, also targeting higher CPU efficiency to accommodate institutional demands.
| Upcoming Feature | Description | Estimated Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| 24 protocol amendments | Network upgrades for scaling and security | By 2027 |
| WebAssembly smart contracts (XLS-101) | Enables advanced on-chain programmability | By 2027 |
| Lending pools and options (XLS-62) | Institutional lending & tokenized assets | By 2027 |
| Repo market support | Interbank lending via tokenized assets | By 2027 |
As commercial adoption accelerates, Ripple’s ecosystem builders are leveraging artificial intelligence to rigorously test upgrades and streamline the codebase. Preparations are underway for routine use cases such as transactions with RLUSD stablecoin, tokenized equity trading, and interbank lending, positioning XRPL for future institutional growth.
Ripple is overhauling XRP Ledger to ensure the network can handle high-value transactions and diverse financial products, shifting from TPS competition to institutional utility and resilience.
