 
 
Ripple is weighing more decentralized finance (DeFi) options on the XRP Ledger as discussions for staking began this week. This comes on the back of increased DeFi adoption as activities spiked above expectations this year.
Ripple’s Engineers Explore Staking
Recent staking conversations on social media shocked many within the XRP community. Head of engineering at RippleX, Ayo Akinyele, hinted that the network needs to expand capabilities to incentivize participants.
Proposals include plans to onboard staking to the XRP Ledger to help the overall ecosystem. Akinyele noted that staking strengthens security, offering a more direct way to participate in the network. Users are also directly rewarded for maintaining the consensus.
However, developers are at a crossroads with the XRP Ledger because of its present design. Currently, transaction fees are burned and not distributed, while trust is earned through performance rather than a financial stake.
For staking to exist on the XRP Ledger, developers must provide a source for staking rewards and explain how they can be distributed fairly. This model could subtly change the network’s dynamics and engage the pro-staking community.
 
“Distribution would also require careful design. Staking changes how validators and participants interact, introducing financial incentives that can strengthen engagement but also reshape governance dynamics in subtle ways. Getting those incentives right and corresponding penalties are critical to maintaining the network’s fairness and resilience.”
Staking became more popular after the Ethereum Merge, which transitioned Ethereum to a proof-of-stake blockchain. Akinyele further highlighted that exploring staking options isn’t just about rewards; understanding designs builds trust in decentralized networks.
The suggestion was received warmly, although several users gave opposing views, citing the lack of actual decentralization in most staking models. Reacting to the proposal, Ripple’s CTO David Schwartz tossed out two possible ideas to prevent centralization.
“One is to switch to a two-layer consensus model with the inner layer being incentivized. The inner layer would have 16 inner validators chosen by the outer layer based on stake and use staking/slashing just to advance the ledger. The other is to keep the consensus the same but use transaction fees to pay for ZK proofs of correct smart contract execution.”
In previous months, Ripple has fostered partnerships bolstering XRPL’s adoption and ecosystem participation. XRP also attracted massive institutional demand for the current price correction.