Ripple is investigating the possibility of introducing a native staking mechanism to the XRP Ledger (XRPL) to enhance its security and expand its utility in the Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ecosystem. While the XRPL was originally designed for efficient global payments, this potential shift aims to maintain its competitive edge as digital asset treasuries and exchange-traded funds begin to adopt XRP.

The proposal, however, presents a significant challenge to the ledger’s foundational principles. Introducing financial incentives through staking would conflict with the XRPL’s current Proof of Association consensus mechanism, which is built on trust and stability rather than stakeholder rewards.

Two Models Outlined by Ripple’s CTO

Despite these hurdles, Ripple’s Chief Technology Officer, David Schwartz, outlined two conceptual ideas for integrating staking. The first concept involves a two-layer consensus model. This system would feature an “inner” layer of approximately 16 validators chosen by an “outer” layer based on their staked assets. The outer layer, consisting of current validators without a staking component, would continue to oversee network amendments and fees while also policing the inner layer.

Schwartz’s second idea would keep the existing consensus structure intact but would use fees to power zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs. ZK proofs are a cryptographic method that allows one party to prove a statement is true without revealing any additional information, enabling trustless verification.

While acknowledging the technical promise of these concepts, Schwartz tempered expectations by stating they are “not practical” in the near future. He cited the significant complexity, effort, and risk involved as major barriers to implementation.

According to CoinGecko data, XRP is currently trading at $2.13, marking a 0.2% increase over the past 24 hours.