Ripple CTO clarifies that XRP Ledger lacks smart contract functionality

Ripple CTO David Schwartz responds to a user query on X and says the XRP Ledger does not have smart-contract functionality yet.
Ripple plans to roll out smart contracts on its Ledger mainnet by 2025, per a press release.
XRP erases 3% value on Wednesday, trades at $0.5260 at the time of writing.

Ripple (XRP) has plans to introduce smart contract functionality to its native blockchain, the XRP Ledger. However, as of September 11 the firm has not announced a date for its launch on the mainnet.

XRP trades at $0.5260, down 3% on Wednesday.

Daily digest market movers: Ripple does not have smart contracts on XRP Ledger

Ripple Chief Technology Officer David Schwartz responded to a query from a crypto trader on X. When asked which smart contracts are rolled out on the XRP Ledger mainnet, Schwartz said none yet. The CTO said that “today XRP Ledger is a fixed-function ledger.”

There are none today. Today, XRPL is a fixed-function ledger.
— David "JoelKatz" Schwartz (@JoelKatz) September 9, 2024

The payment remittance firm has previously shared plans to introduce smart contract functionality on the mainnet through utility functions like hooks. A press release by Ripple notes that 2025 is the likely timeline for the functionality’s launch.
This would mark a key milestone as it would boost the Ledger’s functionality and likely drive demand for native token XRP.

Technical analysis: XRP could extend loss by 5%

Ripple is in a downward trend that started following the July 12, 2023 top of $0.9380. The altcoin is in a state of decline and dipped to a low of $0.3832 on July 5, 2024. The altcoin’s price has since recovered somewhat, and XRP trades at $0.5293 at the time of writing.

XRP could suffer a decline of 5% and sweep liquidity at $0.5026, the September 6 low for the altcoin. This marks a key support level for the altcoin that has been respected for over 30 days since August 8.

The Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) indicator shows red histogram bars under the neutral line. XRP price trend has underlying negative momentum, supporting the bearish thesis.

XRP/USDT daily chart

A daily candlestick close above the upper boundary of the Fair Value Gap (FVG) at $0.5785 could invalidate the bearish thesis. XRP could proceed to the psychologically important $0.6000 level once the FVG is filled.

Ripple FAQs

What is Ripple?

Ripple is a payments company that specializes in cross-border remittance. The company does this by leveraging blockchain technology. RippleNet is a network used for payments transfer created by Ripple Labs Inc. and is open to financial institutions worldwide. The company also leverages the XRP token.

What is XRP?

XRP is the native token of the decentralized blockchain XRPLedger. The token is used by Ripple Labs to facilitate transactions on the XRPLedger, helping financial institutions transfer value in a borderless manner. XRP therefore facilitates trustless and instant payments on the XRPLedger chain, helping financial firms save on the cost of transacting worldwide.

What is XRPL?

XRPLedger is based on a distributed ledger technology and the blockchain using XRP to power transactions. The ledger is different from other blockchains as it has a built-in inflammatory protocol that helps fight spam and distributed denial-of-service (DDOS) attacks. The XRPL is maintained by a peer-to-peer network known as the global XRP Ledger community.

What blockchain technology does XRP use?

XRP uses the interledger standard. This is a blockchain protocol that aids payments across different networks. For instance, XRP’s blockchain can connect the ledgers of two or more banks. This effectively removes intermediaries and the need for centralization in the system. XRP acts as the native token of the XRPLedger blockchain engineered by Jed McCaleb, Arthur Britto and David Schwartz

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