Ripple’s XRP Ledger has unveiled a new strategic partnership with Axelar, a programmable blockchain interoperability platform, leading to a significant surge in the price of AXL. According to CoinMarketCap data, AXL prices spiked on Wednesday, climbing from below $0.76 as the market responded to the latest US Consumer Price Index (CPI) data.
The collaboration designates Axelar as the exclusive bridge for Ripple’s XRPL EVM sidechain, a development that has excited the blockchain community. Ripple aims to bring Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatibility to XRP Ledger, which will enable decentralized finance (DeFi) innovations and real-world asset (RWA) tokenization.
Bridge safely, smoothly + canonically to XRPL EVM over Axelar network 🎯
1,000,000 chains 🟠🦾 https://t.co/OKe8sbKCXQ
— Axelar Network (@axelarnetwork) June 12, 2024
The XRPL EVM Sidechain will utilize wrapped XRP (eXRP) as the native asset and gas token, facilitating seamless asset transfers between XRPL and the EVM Sidechain. This integration ensures efficient transaction processing and leverages the strengths of both networks. The primary focus as the launch approaches is securing the mainnet bridge and enhancing user and developer experiences.
Ripple’s choice of Axelar as the bridge provider is strategic, given Axelar’s robust validator network and proven cross-chain bridge technology. The network’s 75 validators and stringent key-rotation policies ensure high security, making Axelar a reliable partner for this crucial infrastructure.
A call to builders 🛠️
… from the Axelar community 👐https://t.co/z2KHj37iQV
— Axelar Network (@axelarnetwork) June 11, 2024
The Ripple engineering team, in collaboration with Peersyst Technology, is migrating the main bridge to Axelar for the devnet. Ferran Prat, CEO of Peersyst, praised Axelar’s compatibility and readiness for production.
Additionally, Ripple’s efforts to simplify the transfer of new tokens via XLS-38 are ongoing, with plans to consolidate bridging processes to enhance user-friendliness. Ripple is keen to receive community feedback on XLS-38 to refine the feature based on developer input and use cases.
As Ripple outlines its vision for institutional DeFi on XRPL, the successful implementation of these projects could further enhance the platform’s utility. Despite recent positive developments, the XRP token has yet to experience a substantial rally, though analysts remain optimistic that regulatory clarity could catalyze significant growth.
