Ripple’s XRP Ledger to Launch Ethereum-Compatible Sidechain in Q2

Ripple has confirmed that an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible sidechain for the XRP Ledger (XRPL) will officially launch on mainnet in the second quarter of 2025. The announcement was made by Ripple CTO David Schwartz and Director of Product Management Jaazi Cooper at the APEX 2025 conference in Singapore.

The XRPL EVM sidechain aims to bridge the XRP ecosystem with Ethereum’s decentralized application (dApp) and smart contract infrastructure, enabling broader use cases in decentralized finance (DeFi). EVM compatibility allows developers to deploy Ethereum-based smart contracts directly onto the XRPL, offering new functionality such as liquidity pools, token swaps, and yield farming opportunities.

Developed by Peersyst Technologies, the sidechain’s testnet went live earlier this year and has seen significant momentum. According to Peersyst, 87 new entities—many with no prior connection to the XRP ecosystem—have already begun building infrastructure, applications, and services on the testnet.

“This could become the biggest onboarding event in XRP history,” said Peersyst in a post on X (formerly Twitter), emphasizing the potential for ecosystem expansion and cross-chain utility.

The sidechain’s full integration into XRPL will mark a major milestone for Ripple, positioning the network to compete more directly with other Layer 1 blockchains supporting EVM, such as Ethereum, BNB Chain, and Avalanche.

As Ripple continues to evolve the XRPL ecosystem, the EVM sidechain is expected to attract both developers and users from the broader Web3 community, bolstering the adoption of XRP in DeFi and smart contract environments.