Ripple Dev Floats Idea Of Native XRP Staking Following ETFs Launch

Ripple developer J. Ayo Akinyele has sparked a new debate on how the XRP may progress as its adoption increases. Akinyele came up with staking in the XRP Ledger. He discussed the concept to determine how incentives could be incorporated in the network in the future.

XRP’s Growth Renews Debate on Future Participation Models

Ayo Akinyele explained that XRP has always focused on moving value quickly and efficiently. The asset now supports payments, tokenized assets, and real-time liquidity across global markets. Akinyele said this expanding role naturally raises questions about how participation models may evolve as new financial use cases emerge.

His comments came after the launch of the first XRP ETF from Canary, a development that signals broader institutional interest in the asset. He emphasized that the XRPL works differently from most blockchains.

Many networks rely on staking to align incentives between validators and token holders. Staking rewards participation and strengthens security by introducing financial benefits. XRP sidesteps this model. The XRPL has no type of rewards, and the transaction fees are burned, which explains the efficiency of the system.

XRPL Stability Remains Key

Akinyele observed that the Proof of Association model of the XRPL emphasizes on trust, performance and steady governance as opposed to any financial stake. Hence, introducing staking would require significant thought. He stressed that any hypothetical staking model would need a clear reward source and a fair method of distribution.

He explained that new programmability features could introduce fees that might flow into a rewards pool. This is a direction Ripple is already exploring in its broader tokenization and stablecoin roadmap.

Akinyele further highlighted that exploring staking is not a suggestion to change XRPL’s design. It is simply a way to analyze how incentive models shape network behavior. He also noted that the ecosystem already experiments with yield through external services.

Staking Debate Highlights XRP’s Responsible Path to Growth

Exchanges and DeFi protocols, including Flare and Doppler Finance, offer yield-bearing systems that interact with XRP or its wrapped versions. Akinyele used these examples to show that innovation can grow without altering the XRPL’s foundation. This is a point reinforced by the rollout of its MPT tokenization standard for real-world assets by XRPL team.

He said the real purpose of exploring staking is to understand how future capabilities might coexist with the principles that make XRP stable and trusted. He stated that the key to efficient network design is to find and implement ideas that boosts its resilience and still retain its crucial features.