$XRP Ledger's Late Embrace of Programmability Ignites Ecosystem Competition
In 2023, developers forked the $XRP Ledger to create Xahau, which implemented Hooks, a lightweight smart-contract system that allowed small pieces of code to live on accounts and govern transactions. This move came after years of validators declining to adopt Hooks, leading to frustration among developers.
The parent chain has now adopted programmability, with the release of WebAssembly-based Smart Escrows (XLS-100d) and a drafted specification for general smart contracts (XLS-101d), which cites Hooks and the Ethereum Virtual Machine as influences. The use of WebAssembly is significant, as it imports an existing toolchain and developer base.
Xahau's developers see their project as an independent Layer 1, built from a fork of the XRPL codebase, with its own validators, governance, and economics. They argue that Xahau has evolved in a different direction than the parent chain, with features existing on each that do not exist on the other.
The arrival of programmability on the main ledger creates an interesting dynamic, with three competing architectures (Hooks on Xahau, Solidity on the XRPL EVM sidechain, and WebAssembly on the main ledger) vying for developer attention. This raises questions about which architecture will prevail and what implications this has for the ecosystem as a whole.