XRP Ledger EVM Sidechain Goes Live, Unlocking Ethereum Dapps in XRP Ecosystem

June 30, 2025

Tech

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By Margaux Nijkerk, AI Boost|Edited by Sheldon Reback

Jun 30, 2025, 3:52 p.m.

Ripple Labs CTO David Schwartz (Ripple Labs)
  • Ripple officially introduced XRPL’s EVM sidechain to the mainnet, improving the XRP ecosystem’s interoperability.
  • The development introduces smart contracts that are compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) to XRP Ledger (XRPL), enabling developers to deploy their Ethereum-based decentralized applications (dapps) to XRPL for a low cost.

Ripple officially introduced the XRP Ledger’s Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) sidechain to the mainnet in an bid to improve the ecosystem’s interoperability and allow developers to deploy their Ethereum-based decentralized applications (dapps) with the XRPL.

The development adds EVM-compatible smart contracts while maintaining a connection to the XRPL, giving developers access to the ecosystem at a low cost, Ripple said in a blog post. It is designed to eliminate the trade-off between EVM compatibility and XRPL’s own advantages, opening the door for dapps to lean into XRP’s payments infrastructure.

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“The XRPL EVM Sidechain introduces a flexible environment for developers to deploy EVM-based applications, while maintaining a connection to the XRPL’s efficiency,” David Schwartz, Ripple’s chief technology officer and a co-creater of XRPL, said in the post. “It extends the capabilities of the ecosystem without changing the fundamentals that make the XRPL reliable.”

The sidechain operates as a separate blockchain that is parallel and connected to the XRP Ledger over the Axelar bridge, an interoperability protocol. XRPL’s native token, XRP

, will serve as the native gas token for the sidechain.

The chain is designed specifically for developers, as they can now build and deploy their EVM-based applications, while accessing XRPL’s network of over 6 million wallet holders, Ripple said. The sidechain is planned to eventually also integrate with Wormhole, another interoperability protocol, allowing even more developers to access the XRP ecosystem.

Read more: Ripple Integrates Wormhole With XRP Ledger to Power Institutional Multichain Moves

Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk’s full AI Policy.

Margaux is CoinDesk’s Tech & Protocols reporter, where she focuses mostly on the Ethereum and Solana ecosystems. A graduate of Johns Hopkins and Emory universities, she has a masters in International Affairs & Economics. She holds BTC and ETH above CoinDesk’s disclosure threshold of $1,000.

Margaux Nijkerk

“AI Boost” indicates a generative text tool, typically an AI chatbot, contributed to the article. In each and every case, the article was edited, fact-checked and published by a human. Read more about CoinDesk’s AI Policy.

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