In a rare eruption of real -time brainstorming on X, Ripple’s Chief Technology Officer David Schwartz dropped two potential upgrades on how blockchain networks – in particular the XRP whides – could manage transaction costs. The conversation, which attracted input from developers, users and protocol theorists, revolved around improving fairness and efficiency without endangering consensus or performance.
Currently, XRP whides are dynamic but non -residual -you pay to come in, and what you offer above the required minimum is burned, even if it was not necessary. This has raised constant questions about too much paid, fairness and incentive design.
SCHWARTZ’s first proposal suggests calculating the actual compensation required to get another transaction in the ledger after the consensus has been reached. Every user who paid more than that would receive a discount for the difference. This approach would maintain incentive lines and ensure that users are not punished because they honestly offer higher inclusion.
An idea is to calculate the cost level that is needed to get another transaction in the ledger after the consensation channel set has been determined and all costs above that level a discount that each transaction tried to pay. Maybe you should adjust that a bit to not break a consensus.
– David ‘Jeelkatz’ Schwartz (@joelkatz) June 16, 2025
Schwartz, however, noted the challenge: all validators cause it to agree on that threshold after the consensus without risking divergence. He believes it is soluble with some tweaks at the protocol level, but it would not be trivial.
Nothing is ever ideal
His second idea is to simply calculate the median reimbursement of all accepted transactions per ledger and to repay everything that has been paid above. It is easier to put into practice, but it can still lead to too much payment if everyone uses the most willing to pay.
“Everyone pays too much. That is not ideal,” wrote Schwartz. The idea is to let users reveal their maximum price without having to guess the minimum, and without losing money because they are honest.
There is not yet an official route map for implementing both systems, but the open discussion shows that Ripple’s leadership is actively investigating better cost models.