Joe Frag

We’ve been seeing more and more players in the payments and stablecoins space launch their own blockchains. To me, that’s a clear sign the market sees blockchain as core financial infrastructure — something we’ve believed in and have been building toward on the XRP Ledger for over 13 years. Launching a blockchain is hard. Building an ecosystem with developers, liquidity, trust, and real-world usage is even harder. The XRPL has real traction and institutional adoption because it’s been battle-tested, updated, and improved upon for well over a decade. Some blockchains are built with permissioned validator sets controlled by one entity or a small group. This can provide control and compliance for specific, closed-network scenarios, but it limits reach, resilience, and the ability for anyone to contribute to securing and growing the network. Decentralization vs. centralization is constantly debated and there’s not a single answer that fits every use case for crypto and the concepts themselves have changed in definition over the years. As many of you know, the XRPL is public and permissionless at its core, with optional permissioned features for regulated use cases. This open foundation makes it adaptable, interoperable, and well-positioned to serve as critical infrastructure for the world’s financial system — connecting assets, markets, and participants seamlessly across borders. The XRPL was built so fees stay low and predictable, just fractions of a cent, without a separate gas token. You can pay directly in XRP for any issued asset, avoiding the friction and hidden costs of buying another token just to transact. XRP is counterparty-free, accessible by all, and used as a bridge asset with real utility for payments, settlement, and liquidity. (Every transaction on the XRPL uses/burns XRP.) It’s encouraging to see some newer chains adopt design choices that have long been part of the XRPL’s architecture, like deterministic finality and Proof of Authority-based consensus mechanisms. It shows there’s growing alignment in the industry on the importance of predictable, reliable settlement for financial applications without expensive validation. Looking forward to the next phase of XRPL innovations, bringing more programmability, compliance-grade capabilities, and deeper liquidity for institutional use. And to those just getting started… Welcome to the party! The crypto tent is only getting bigger.