Introducing XRP Ledger version 1.8.2

Version 1.8.2 of rippled, the reference server implementation of the XRP Ledger protocol, is now available. This release addresses the full transaction queues and elevated transaction fees issue observed on the XRP ledger, and also provides some optimizations and small fixes to improve the server's performance overall.

Due to the holidays, version 1.8.2 is being made available as a "soft release" in the unstable package channel so that operators who are interested can upgrade. Automatic updates will not update to this release until it is pushed to the stable branch at a later date.

Introducing XRP Ledger version 1.8.1

Version 1.8.1 of rippled, the reference server implementation of the XRP Ledger protocol, is now available. This release contains several improvements and optimizations to improve stability and performance under load, along with other features and fixes including deterministic history shards, default amendment votes, and the CheckCashMakesTrustLine amendment.

This release supersedes version 1.8.0. Version 1.8.1 makes additional changes to database tuning parameters to optimize start-up and syncing time. It is highly recommended that operators upgrade to 1.8.1 as soon as possible because the optimizations in this release should help alleviate some of the pressure on the network from increased usage.

Five Amendments Expected Soon

Several amendments to the XRP Ledger protocol are expected to become enabled on the XRP Ledger Mainnet soon. Three of these amendments fix bugs in the XRP Ledger protocol, one (NegativeUNL) improves the ability of the network to make forward progress during periods of instability, and the last one (TicketBatch) adds the ability to prepare and send transactions in a more flexible order. The details are as follows (all dates are in UTC):

• fixSTAmountCanonicalize (min version: 1.7.0) expected 2021-11-11.
• FlowSortStrands (min version: 1.7.0) expected 2021-11-11.
• fixRmSmallIncreasedQOffers (min version: v1.7.2) expected 2021-11-18.
• TicketBatch (min version: v1.7.2) expected 2021-11-18.
• NegativeUNL (min version: v1.7.3) expected 2021-11-21.

Each amendment will become enabled if it maintains support from at least 80% of trusted validators until its expected time. Operators of rippled servers must upgrade to the minimum version or higher by the time these amendments become enabled.

Introducing xrpl.js

by Team RippleX

RippleX and the XRP Ledger Foundation (XRPLF) are excited to announce xrpl.js version 2.0.0, a JavaScript/TypeScript library for interacting with the XRP Ledger (XRPL). Formerly known as ripple-lib, the library was renamed to better represent its role in the XRPL ecosystem and overhauled to take advantage of modern JavaScript features.

RippleX Releases Engineering Preview of Proposed Federated Sidechains System

Earlier this year, Ripple shared a vision for Federated Sidechains that can complement the XRP Ledger (XRPL) Mainnet. Federated Sidechains support the developer community by unlocking new capabilities related to smart contracts and DeFi, interoperability, NFTs and more.

Lower Reserves Are Now In Effect

Over the course of the past year, several members of the XRP Ledger community have advocated for lowering the reserve requirements in the network to compensate for the sustained increase in the price of XRP. On 2021-09-19, the new reserve values went into effect after gaining support from a majority of validators. The new reserve amounts are 10 XRP base for an account plus 2 XRP per object owned in the ledger, down from 20 XRP base and 5 XRP per object owned.

Introducing XRP Ledger version 1.7.3

Version 1.7.3 of rippled, the reference server implementation of the XRP Ledger protocol, is now available. This release addresses an out-of-bounds memory read identified by Guido Vranken, as well as an unrelated issue identified by the Ripple C++ team that could result in incorrect use of internal data structures. By community demand, this version also introduces the NegativeUNL amendment, which corresponds to the feature which was introduced in the 1.6.0 release.

ripple-lib Drops Lodash Requirement in Browsers

Version 1.10.0 of ripple-lib, the JavaScript/TypeScript library for the XRP Ledger, no longer requires a separate Lodash script to run in web browsers. This change comes alongside other continued improvements in the library, improving the experience of developing applications on the XRP Ledger.

XRPL Grants: Funding the Next Phase of Open, Decentralized Innovation

XRPL Grants is helping enable developers to leverage the XRP Ledger’s (XRPL) open-source technology to further innovate in the Internet of Value. If you’re a developer and would like to build a project on the XRPL, keep reading to find out more info and how to apply.

Introducing XRP Ledger version 1.7.2

Version 1.7.2 of rippled, the reference server implementation of the XRP Ledger protocol, is now available. This release protects against the security issue CVE-2021-3499 affecting OpenSSL, adds an amendment to fix an issue with small offers not being properly removed from order books in some cases, and includes various other minor fixes.

This release supersedes version 1.7.1 and adds fixes for more issues that were discovered during the release cycle.

Introducing xrpl4j

RippleX and the XRP Ledger Foundation (XRPLF) are pleased to announce the release ofxrpl4j, a pure Java library for interacting with the XRP Ledger (XRPL). xrpl4j provides convenient tooling for developers to take full advantage of all the XRP Ledger has to offer, including wallet derivation, address encoding, transaction serialization and signing and native Java objects modeling core primitives of the rippled API.

XRP Ledger Node Configurator

by Javier Romero of Ripple

The XRP Ledger is open to anyone: all you need is a computer. For many people, using one of the many available client applications, user interfaces or portals is sufficient. But if you want to go beyond exploring the ledger or sending a payment, you need to run a server to participate as a node in the peer-to-peer network that manages the Ledger.

While the docs on xrpl.org make it fairly easy for anyone to spin up an XRP Ledger node, some nuanced configuration options can complicate the setup process. To help simplify this process, we've built the XRPL Node Configurator, a tool that walks you through setting up a node based on your use case.

Introducing xrpl-py for Pythonistas

by Team RippleX

Today, RippleX and the XRP Ledger Foundation (XRPLF) are excited to announce the launch of xrpl-py, a pure Python implementation for interacting with the XRP Ledger. The xrpl-py library simplifies the hardest parts of XRP Ledger interaction—like serialization and transaction signing—by providing native Python methods and models for XRP Ledger transactions and core server API (rippled) objects.

Three Amendments Expected on 2021-04-08

Two bug-fixing amendments to the XRP Ledger protocol and one amendment that improves robustness of consensus, all introduced in rippled v1.6.0, have gained support from a majority of trusted validators: fix1781, fixAmendmentMajorityCalc, and HardenedValidations. Currently, they are expected to become enabled on 2021-04-08. Any of these amendments that continue to have the continuous support of at least 80% of trusted validators will become enabled on the scheduled date.

Server operators should be sure to upgrade rippled before this date.

Message Routing Optimizations, Pt. 1: Proposal & Validation Relaying

by Gregory Tsipenyuk and Nikolaos D. Bougalis of Ripple

Like all peer-to-peer networks, the XRP Ledger needs a strategy to ensure that messages are propagated across the network. Of course, some types of messages are more important or more time-sensitive than others, so the XRP Ledger uses different strategies for relaying different types of messages.

This blog post discusses the message propagation strategy used for “proposal” and “validation” messages, which are part of the consensus protocol, and the improvements that the RippleX team researched and is contributing.

Community Spotlight: Developing Wallet Protect

GateHub started in 2013 with an idea: What if there was a wallet that could hold any type of asset, have an integrated exchange built-in and provide the ability to send and receive assets across any payment network instantly?

Road to XRP Ledger 1.7: Improving Efficiency and Security

Today, version 1.7.0 of the reference implementation of the software behind the XRP Ledger (XRPL) was released with key contributions from RippleX aimed at improving the Ledger’s decentralization, security and efficiency.

In this post, RippleX breaks down some of the changes and highlights in the release.

Introducing XRP Ledger version 1.7.0

Ripple has released version 1.7.0 of rippled, the reference server implementation of the XRP Ledger protocol. This release significantly improves memory usage, introduces a protocol amendment to allow out-of-order transaction execution with Tickets, and brings several other features and improvements.