- The EVM-compatible XRPL sidechain, intended to mark XRP’s foray into the world of DeFi and smart contracts, is the biggest disappointment for the community, says an executive at the XRPL Foundation.
- He states that the sidechain was an acknowledgment from the XRP community that its ecosystem has failed, and that it is now turning to every other project and integrating Ethereum’s EVM to survive.
When Ripple began testing an XRPL sidechain that would be compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) in October 2022, it was considered the genesis of However, following its launch, one of the highest-ranking officials in the XRPL ecosystem dismissed the project, saying it represents a departure from the fundamental ethos that has led the XRP ecosystem to the success it is today.
As the name suggests, the EVM-compatible sidechain runs parallel to the main XRPL chain and is compatible with EVM, the software on which the Ethereum ecosystem is built. This allows, at least in theory, any smart contract or dApp built on Ethereum to be connected to the XRPL network without any code changes. Conversely, the XRPL ecosystem now had access to the massive Ethereum network.
However, the sidechain contains XRP as the native token, with fees paid in XRP and validators rewarded in the token.
While some in the ecosystem have praised the initiative, Thomas Silkjær says it signals a dismissal of the XRPL community – a “if we can’t beat them, join them” mentality.
In a scathing review of the initiative, Silkjær, Head of Analytics and Compliance at the XRPL Foundation, described the sidechain as “the largest direct attack on the XRPL protocol, pushed by those who should be defending and working for the protocol.”
In my personal opinion, the EVM sidechain is the largest direct attack on the XRPL protocol, pushed by those who should be defending and working for the protocol.
It does nothing for rippled. It does nothing to make the XRPL more attractive to new developers. It has little…
— Thomas Silkjær (@Silkjaer) February 10, 2024
He noted:
It does nothing for rippled. It does nothing to make the XRPL more attractive to new developers. It has little to no similarities in dev stack and interaction.
Silkjær added that the sidechain represents a community that has resigned itself to the fact that it cannot attract utility on XRPL. To prevent the complete death of XRP, it then uses the same old trick that every other chain uses, while “selling the story that the new chain is still the XRPL.”
Has Ripple failed the XRPL ecosystem with the EVM sidechain?
Silkjær continued with his teardown of the EVM sidechain, saying it has deviated from the spirit that built one of the strongest crypto and blockchain communities in the industry.
He quoted David Schwartz, Ripple’s Chief Technological Officer, who explained in a speech last year what made XRPL successful. Schwartz noted that his team was determined not to copy Bitcoin.
“We have rethought things from the ground up. We thought about decentralization. We were thinking about performance,” Ripple’s CTO told attendees at an event last year.
And yet, with the EVM sidechain, XRPL becomes just like any other ecosystem.
According to Silkjær, Ripple seems to be pushing XRP lately, and not the technology, despite the costs this poses to overall long-term growth and adoption. He claimed:
It’s not very reassuring when the technology’s administrators turn away from the point or at least struggle to tell the difference.