• XRP Ledger has closed 90 million ledgers and is now aiming for 100 million.
  • Recent XRPL adoption includes NFT services from SBI Holdings and a partnership with Archax for RWA tokenization.

The XRP Ledger (XRPL) has reached a new achievement of completing its 90 millionth ledger on August 12. The XRPScan has captured this, and it goes a long way in showing that th e members of the XRPL ecosystem are actively participating and working together. With the network still growing, the focus now turns to the milestone of the 100 millionth ledger, which marks the next stage of development for the decentralized network. 

SBI Holdings Launches NFT Service on XRPL, Demonstrating Increased Adoption

The growth of XRPL adoption has been most visible in the last few months. In early July, SBI Holdings, a top financial services company operating from Tokyo, started its NFT service, Myaku N!, on the XRPL. This is a clear indication of the increasing desire to utilise the XRPL in the development of new financial solutions. 

Ripple Labs signed a deal with the UK-based digital asset exchange Archax in another strategic move. This partnership is designed to bring institutional investors into the XRPL by tokenizing RWAs. Ripple Labs was upbeat about the partnership, saying that it was a significant strategic move that would help establish XRPL as the go-to blockchain for RWA tokenization. 

Markus Infanger, SVP at RippleX, explained that this partnership will help accelerate the institutional adoption of Blockchain and Digital Asset technology. These strategic initiatives are evidence of the growing utilization of XRPL , which in turn played a role in the network’s late achievements.

XRPL DeFi Ecosystem Faces Sudden Drop in Total Value Locked

Ripple’s Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ecosystem faced a setback on August 1. The TVL in XRPL DeFi applications dropped to $12+ million on July 31 to just above $431,355 the following day. This increase in rejection rate within just one day raised questions about the stability and capital flow within the XRPL ecosystem. 

The decline in TVL indicates a decrease in capital investment and yield during this time, which may raise concerns about the DeFi options available on XRPL. However, the network’s strong development and the support of its community are still pushing the network’s further expansion. 

Besides the operational milestones, Ripple Labs, the company behind the XRP, has not been without its own legal issues. On August 9, United States District Judge Analisa Torres ordered that Ripple Labs must pay a fine of $125 million for selling the XRP to institutional investors in contravention of the Federal Securities Laws. This civil penalty is much less than the $2 billion that the SEC wanted to collect from Ripple; however, it still is a huge blow to Ripple financially. 

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse commented on the verdict, saying that the court slashed the SEC’s penalty demand by 94%. He said that it was a win for Ripple, arguing that the ‘SEC overplayed its hand.’ However, this does not mean that the XRP community is not worried about the possibility of the SEC appealing the ruling. In particular, the regulator could question the court’s decision about the programmatic sales of XRP on the secondary markets.