Ripple is working on a new feature that would allow people to easily launch asset-backed crypto tokens on the XRP Ledger.
David Schwartz, Ripple’s chief technology officer, says the development would differ from other systems that currently offer similar features.
“One of the features that I think is very exciting is a feature that would allow people to launch… essentially assets pegged to some external value. Features similar to that exist on other systems but the interesting thing about this is that the liquidity is guaranteed by the ledger mechanics.”
Although the crypto assets could be used for a variety of purposes, Schwartz says stablecoins are an “obvious use case” for the new feature.
“The key distinguishing property of this proposal is that the stablecoin is always redeemable for XRP on the ledger from the collateral pool. So, for example, if you hold one unit of a USD stablecoin, you can make on-ledger payments at any time, just as if you held $1 worth of XRP.”
Ripple has offered a handful of hints on new ways that companies could build on the XRP Ledger.
Schwartz first discussed the prospect of an XRP-collateralized stablecoin last October. Then, in September, Ripple acquired the Logos Network, a decentalized payments startup expected to help Ripple create decentralized finance platforms on the XRP Ledger.
“As part of Xpring, the Logos team will be leading an ongoing initiative to explore a decentralized financial (DeFi) system that will leverage XRP at its core, as well as other ideas we are exploring to leverage crypto to transform payments and finance.
The Logos team will bring even more horsepower to what the Xpring team can deliver.”
Ripple is proposing a number of other ways to improve the XRPL’s consensus protocol. The most highly publicized feature would allow XRPL accounts to be removed from the ledger.