XRP Ledger Upgrade Lays Groundwork for Lending, Tokenization Expansion

The XRP Ledger (XRPL) released version 3.0.0 of its reference server software, rippled, introducing a wide-ranging set of amendments, bug fixes and internal changes aimed at improving accounting accuracy, developer tooling and long-term protocol extensibility.

Operators running XRPL servers are required to upgrade to the version to maintain network compatibility, according to RippleX, the development arm overseeing the ledger’s core software.

While the release does not introduce headline, user-facing features, it focuses on fixing subtle ledger inconsistencies, tightening API behavior and restructuring code ahead of future protocol upgrades. For a network increasingly positioning itself around tokenization, DeFi and institutional-grade infrastructure, the upgrades matter.

One of the changes is fixTokenEscrowV1, which corrects an accounting error affecting multi-purpose tokens (MPTs) held in escrow.

Previously, when escrowed tokens carrying transfer fees were unlocked, the ledger reduced the issuer’s locked balance by the gross amount instead of the net amount after fees. Subtracting the wrong number when escrowed tokens were released, creating small but compounding accounting errors, would, over time, lead to discrepancies between reported supply and circulating balances.

The fix ensures supply tracking remains consistent, especially as more tokenized assets use XRPL’s escrow and fee mechanisms.

Several other amendments address edge-case issues across automated market makers (AMMs), price oracles and token delivery metadata — areas that are increasingly important as XRPL expands beyond simple payments.

Beyond protocol-level changes, the update improves consensus stall detection, logging clarity, JSON parsing and CI tooling. These upgrades are aimed at operators and contributors rather than end users, and play a critical role in maintaining network reliability.

XRPL version 3.0.0 also raises warning levels for malformed validator manifests and tightens signature verification logic — incremental changes that improve security hygiene without altering consensus rules.

By fixing token accounting edge cases, enforcing stricter APIs and refactoring core systems, the update strengthens the ledger’s foundations as it evolves toward more complex financial use cases.