The XRP Ledger (XRPL), the network that supports the native token XRP is set to support NFT’s and smart contract features through federated sidechain integration in the coming months.
In a June 7 publication by Ripple’s insights, the company stated that it was looking to satisfy the high demand of features requested by developers and contributors of the XRPL. Among the request was the demand for smart contract capabilities on the XRPL. The request comes as a result of the exponential growth in the decentralized finance (DeFi) industry of late.
The company, in a bid to ensure the XRP’s ledger is highly efficient on its main purpose, which is for efficient and timely payments, the company is proposing the integration of federated sidechains on the XRPL.
Federated sidechains allow for experimentation and specialization, so developers can enjoy the power of the XRPL on a sidechain that acts as its blockchain and ultimately enable developers to implement new features, such as smart contracts and NFT’s to the XRP ledger in a way that it interoperates seamlessly with XRP and the XRPL, while also allowing the XRPL to maintain its existing,“lean and efficient” feature set.
In a publication issued by Ripple’s insights yesterday, Ripple’s CTO, David Schwartz stated that although collectables are the biggest NFT use case today, the surface is barely being scratched. He envisions a future where NFTs are the foundation of all digital rights management, even one where consumers could move away from services like Kindle or Apple to directly own the rights to purchased books and movies.
The CTO also stated that he believes the XRP Ledger delivers a unique combination of the low cost, high speed and good payments features needed to streamline NFT creation at scale. In particular, he points to the Ledger’s ability to maintain consistent transaction fees which is impossible on popular blockchains such as the Ethereum blockchain or the Binance Smart Chain (BSC), as a key benefit for both buyers and sellers.
Bottomline
Ripple’s CTO revealed that federated sidechains could be available for the XRP Ledger in the coming months, opening up a host of exciting possibilities including limitless transaction scalability and expanded DeFi capabilities.
XRP is trading at $0.73, up 1.66% for the day, as of the time of writing this report. The token is currently ranked the #6 most valuable cryptocurrency with a market capitalization of $33.8 billion.
