The XRP Ledger has activated PermissionDelegationV1_1 on October 8, allowing account owners to authorize other accounts to perform specific tasks without sharing their primary keys. According to CoinDesk, this feature requires more than 80% support from trusted validators for two straight weeks, meaning at least 29 supporters were needed for activation. The upgrade addresses a critical security concern where businesses need signing keys available throughout the day, but keeping keys with broad powers on internet-connected computers increases hacking risks. Each delegated account can receive up to 10 permissions that restrict action types rather than imposing spending caps, enabling businesses to enforce divisions between functions such as payments and compliance while keeping main holdings offline.
A fierce debate has emerged between Cyber Capital founder Justin Bons and Ripple CTO Emeritus David Schwartz regarding XRP's decentralization claims. Bons has called selling XRP to retail investors as "decentralized outright fraud" and criticized the network's consensus model, arguing that XRP operates as Proof of Authority where power rests in permissioned validator lists published by Ripple and the XRP Ledger Foundation. He warns that "power will be abused, with dire consequences" as power corrupts absolutely. Schwartz rejects this view, maintaining that anyone can run a node or validator and that the ledger resists censorship more effectively than Bitcoin or Ethereum in practice.
A friendly but competitive debate has emerged between Ripple CTO Emeritus David Schwartz and Flare CEO Hugo Philion regarding the growth potential of XRP Ledger lending. According to reports from CryptoSlate, the exchange highlights a race to build XRP lending infrastructure before native tools officially launch. Schwartz emphasized that no one has built anything with the feature yet, suggesting early developers still have significant room for innovation. He described lending as one of the biggest needs in any financial system and noted that the ledger's philosophy favors curated, best-in-class versions of useful functions. Philion has now challenged Schwartz's assessment, claiming he underestimates lending's potential and suggesting that many observers overlook the outside infrastructure that can connect to the XRP Ledger.
Philion responded on X that Schwartz may underestimate lending's potential, suggesting that many observers overlook the outside infrastructure that can connect to the XRP Ledger. As reported by CryptoSlate, Flare will deploy lending logic on its own side rather than waiting for major XRPL upgrades. The approach utilizes Protocol Managed Wallets and the Flare Confidential Compute stack to deliver near-full smart-contract capabilities. According to Philion, this infrastructure has already channeled $7.2 million in loans backed by 10.8 million wrapped XRP (FXRP). The strategy allows holders to lend coins from native XRPL wallets while avoiding risks of traditional cross-chain bridges, keeping assets closer to the native environment with fees flowing to the Flare ecosystem. Philion confirmed that Flare has formal plans to deploy lending directly on the XRPPL, without waiting for major ledger updates from Ripple.
The XRP Ledger network demonstrates significant growth with $3.72 billion in tokenized assets and $539 million in Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin during the second quarter, according to Evernorth, an XRP treasury company. Combined, these balances amount to approximately $4.26 billion. Evidence of growing demand exists through Flare's infrastructure, with investors borrowing $7.2 million in Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin against 10.8 million wrapped XRP (FXRP). According to CryptoSlate, three addresses hold about 93% of that debt in Morpho pools, with Sentora supplying the liquidity. The RLUSD supply stands near $2.4 billion, indicating significant room for market growth, though the concentration limits what the figures prove.
The timing of the decentralization debate coincides with Evernorth's upcoming Nasdaq debut, scheduled for Monday, October 12 under the ticker XRPN. As reported by CryptoSlate, Evernorth expects to close its merger with Armada Acquisition Corp. II and would become the largest public pure-play XRP vehicle, holding approximately 473 million tokens with backing from Ripple, Pantera, Kraken, and other investors. Critics argue the launch reinforces concerns about centralization and transparency, while supporters counter that the ledger remains public and the vehicle offers only regulated exposure to XRP. The debate over XRP's true decentralization will return to market conversation during Evernorth's first trading session, with traders watching for signs of demand and how investors separate the ledger from the company holding the tokens.
