Ripple announces a major upgrade, EVM sidechains are about to go live.

At the Apex 2025 Developer Conference held in Singapore, Ripple’s Chief Technology Officer David Schwartz announced that the XRP Ledger will launch sidechains supporting the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) in the second quarter of this year, which will bring significant expansion to the XRP ecosystem and open a new chapter for smart contracts and multi-chain applications.

Built in collaboration by Ripple and Peersyst

This sidechain was jointly developed by Ripple and its long-term partner Peersyst, based on the evmOS software stack. Currently, the chain is live on the testnet and is expected to be officially deployed to the mainnet after further validator participation and stability testing.

Integrate Ethereum smart contracts to achieve dual chain advantages.

Although the XRP Ledger itself supports smart contracts, it does not natively support the EVM. Through this integration, Ethereum developers will be able to seamlessly migrate existing DApps into the XRP ecosystem while enjoying the advantages of high performance and low-cost transactions on the XRP main chain. This move also allows the XRP Ledger to achieve a technical breakthrough in competition with other L1 blockchains, enhancing its potential to enter the diverse application fields of DeFi, NFTs, and Web3.

Axelar becomes an exclusive cross-chain bridge

The new sidechains will communicate with the XRP mainnet through the cross-chain bridge provided by Axelar, allowing assets like Wrapped XRP (wXRP) to be transferred across chains and used as the native Gas token in the sidechains. This design enables free flow of assets and further enhances inter-chain interoperability.

The price dynamics of XRP

XRP has shown stable price performance recently, currently quoted at approximately $2.24. Technical charts indicate that the XRP price has been consolidating above the $2.25 support range waiting for a breakout, potentially leading to a new wave of upward momentum. If the price breaks through the $2.30 resistance level, it may rise to the $2.35 to $2.40 range in the short term, and there is even a chance to challenge the $2.50 integer barrier; conversely, if it falls below $2.25, the potential support levels will be around $2.22 and $2.20.

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Summary

With this integration with EVM, the XRP Ledger is gradually transforming into a multifunctional platform with complete development flexibility. For developers, this is a cross-chain innovation opportunity, while for investors, it may become a key catalyst driving the medium- to long-term growth of XRP.