Ripple is weighing a shift that would mark one of the most significant technical debates in the XRP Ledger’s long history: whether staking should become part of the network’s design.
The idea resurfaced after J. Ayo Akinyele, RippleX’s head of engineering, published an exploratory piece on how staking could broaden XRP’s utility and reshape the incentive structure that has guided XRPL for more than a decade.
How staking could change the ledger’s foundation
Akinyele outlined the potential benefits with a focus on participation and security. Staking, as used across other networks, rewards users who lock their tokens to support consensus. XRPL currently relies on a fee-burning mechanism that keeps supply deflationary. Redirecting those fees toward stakers would require rethinking the ledger’s architecture, including how rewards are calculated and how validators coordinate.
The debate touches on XRPL’s identity. The network was built for fast settlement and reliability in cross-border payments. Its consensus model leans heavily on trust and validator reputation instead of economic incentives.
Introducing rewards changes that balance, raising questions about how the ledger should evolve as XRP gains visibility among corporate treasuries and appears in exchange-traded products.
The two models ripple is considering
David Schwartz offered two theoretical paths, both early-stage ideas rather than near-term proposals.
The first model divides validators into two layers. A small inner group, selected by stake, would run an incentive-based system with slashing and staking mechanics. An outer layer would handle oversight and governance. This structure borrows from networks that blend economic incentives with permissioned oversight.
The second model keeps XRPL’s current consensus intact but uses fees to support zero-knowledge proof verification. ZKPs allow a participant to prove the validity of an action without exposing any additional information.
In this design, rewards come from maintaining a trust-minimized verification process rather than performing traditional staking duties.
Schwartz made clear that both approaches carry considerable engineering challenges and would require thorough review. Any move toward staking must reconcile performance, decentralization, and XRPL’s long-standing design principles.
🚨BREAKING: Ripple CTO Says XRPL May Need “A Fresh Look” — Even Floating the Idea of Native Staking for the First Time Ever 💥
— Diana (@InvestWithD) November 19, 2025
So here’s what just happened — @Ripple CTO David Schwartz (@JoelKatz) shook the entire $XRP community by saying something nobody expected:
The $XRP… pic.twitter.com/GN2bbVJsl1
Ripple reacts to fed proposal on payment access
A separate development has caught Ripple’s attention: a proposal by Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller that would allow crypto firms to access limited-purpose Fed accounts. His remarks suggested that stablecoin issuers and crypto service providers should be able to interact directly with core payment rails instead of relying entirely on commercial banks.
Ripple sees this as a turning point. The company has previously sought a Fed master account to support RLUSD, its stablecoin. According to comments made to Reuters, direct access could improve settlement speed, reduce operating costs, and strengthen redeemability by allowing stablecoin issuers to move between U.S. Treasuries and dollars without bank delays. With Tether and Circle dominating the market, Ripple believes that streamlined access to Fed infrastructure could help RLUSD compete on stability and efficiency.
Gunel Ismayilova
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