Ripple CTO Compares XRP To Stellar Ahead Of Key Upgrade

Next week, Ripple’s XRP Ledger is launching a crucial chain upgrade which technically qualifies as a hard fork. Judging from the official announcements, XRP Ledger’s version 3.1.3 will be in full swing by May 27, 2026. This brings some key enhancements that closely resemble Stellar’s (XLM) structure, as noted by Ripple’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO) David Schwartz.

The official release states that the 3.1.3 upgrade includes the crucial fixCleanup3_1_3 amendment,  which covers key DeFi infrastructure, including non-fungible tokens (NFTs), permissioned domains, on-chain vaults & the XRP on-chain lending protocol.

While the fix amendment will be available for 8 days, 40% of the XRP network validators have transitioned already. The remaining 60% is about to upgrade their software by May 27, 2026, as any node without the 3.1.3 upgrade won’t be able to communicate with the blockchain network.

DEX interfaces, major exchanges & NFT marketplaces on XRP Ledger are getting notified about this requirement by strong community voices like Vet. On the other hand, this has raised a heated discussion about whether that many hard tech forks are actually needed - commenting on this, Ripple’s CTO David ‘JoelKatz’ Schwartz explained the rationale behind it.

Some very popular voices in the XRP crypto community have also touched upon the issue of decision-making. When there’s 40% of validator nodes already on 3.1.3, the vast majority of network validators still operate under the old rules - who’s to decide if they actually want to upgrade?

According to Schwartz’s explanation, a ‘one node - one vote’ scheme wouldn’t work effectively on the XRP Ledger. On the contrary, that would allow somebody with malicious intentions to create multiple validator nodes just to garner the majority of the votes. At the bare minimum, someone has to decide they actually want the ledger production to continue on the old rules.

Moreover, “XRPL sits due to its use of smart transactors”, - asserts Ripple’s CTO Mr. Schwartz, comparing the XRP Ledger’s frequencies to Stellar’s (XLM). Both running on a Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), these chains upgrade more regularly, as witnessed in Stellar’s recent Protocol 24 upgrade, bringing unprecedented interoperability to the Layer-1 chain.

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