Ripple Shrinks XRP Ledger Attack Surface Ahead of Native Lending Push

Ripple is taking steps to reduce the attack surface of its XRP Ledger (XRPL) as it prepares for native lending. The company recommends removing over 10,000 lines of unused code from the XChainBridge after evaluating that its original use case had weakened.

The unused code was designed to let assets move between XRPL and connected sidechains through witness servers that observe transactions and attest to activity across networks. However, Ripple chose Axelar for the EVM Sidechain due to security, user experience, decentralization, and operational demands of maintaining a bridge.

Ripple estimates that removing the code would eventually remove over 10,000 lines from xrpld. The company argues that XRPL should remain lean as the network evolves, citing maintenance burden, contributor complexity, and attack surface as costs of retaining dormant functionality.