XRP Ledger Bug Fix Nears Launch, Lending Still Not Ready
The bug fix could go live on Friday if validator support on the XRP Ledger holds. Ripple’s new lending feature still lacks approval and may only follow later.
Key Takeaways
- A series of bug fixes on the XRP Ledger could go live on Friday if validator support holds for two weeks.
- The change fixCleanup3_4_0 had 29 votes on Monday, enough to clear the threshold, but one withdrawn vote resets the count to zero.
- Ripple’s new lending system still has 19 votes and therefore cannot go live before early November.
A series of bug fixes on the XRP Ledger is on track to go live on Friday. The part that is meant to partly fix Ripple’s new lending system is still 10 votes short of approval. The system has been pitched to banks and payment companies since June, but it is not live yet.
Votes Have to Hold for Two Weeks
The amendment is called fixCleanup3_4_0 and had exactly 29 votes on Monday, according to XRPL Dashboard. That is enough to clear the threshold of more than 80% of the 35 standard trusted validators, but only if that support holds for two weeks. The count is now nine days into that period, which means launch is expected around 09:34 UTC on October 23. There is no room for error: if one validator withdraws support, the clock starts over.
That voting process fits how the XRP Ledger makes decisions. Validators are independent servers that together decide which transactions count, and a network rule change needs ongoing support from trusted peers in the UNL. That makes the network less dependent on any one party, but it also means every amendment only goes through if support stays stable enough.
Lending Still Not Approved
The lending system itself only has 19 votes so far. The vaults that are supposed to hold lenders’ funds are at 21 votes. No separate countdown has started for either part, so even if they reached 29 votes today, lending cannot go live before early November.
Ripple describes the system as a setup where a lender deposits XRP or another token into a vault and a loan broker lends out that money for a fixed period. The ledger records the loan and tracks repayments, while the broker decides offchain whether a borrower is creditworthy. Because no collateral is required, the risk mainly comes down to that assessment.
Why This Matters
For European crypto followers, this is mainly relevant because the XRP Ledger shows how protocol changes are actually rolled out in practice: through transparent validator votes and a fixed activation threshold. It also shows that new features on a public blockchain do not automatically go live as soon as they are proposed. With Ripple’s lending setup, the technical and governance hurdle is still higher than the announcement itself.
The broader adoption of XRPL is still a topic of debate too. Institutional adoption, according to former Ripple adviser Anthony Welfare, depends not just on technology, but also on liquidity, custody, compliance, and interoperability.
The new lending feature fits into that same debate, because Ripple is using the protocol to try to create an extra use case for banks and other institutions.
