In an interesting development, Ripple has on Monday announced the release of a key smart contract developer bridge to Ethereum. The company released the first phase of the Ethereum Virtual Machine sidechain for the XRP Ledger. The sidechain is now live on the XRPL Devnet, in what could ease access to developers wanting cross chain interoperability. Essentially, the update will allow developers to choose between Ripple or Ethereum compatible blockchains.
Ethereum Smart Contract Access To Ripple XRP Ledger (XRPL)
The Ethereum Virtual Machine sidechain release for XRP Ledger (XRPL) brings to developers the Solidity based smart contracts. Ripple also introduced a bridge between an EVM-compatible chain and the XRP Ledger Devnet, it said in a an announcement. The second phase of the project is scheduled for release in early 2023, it added. The next phase will connect a permissionless EVM sidechain to the XRPL Devnet to expand participation and test scalability.
“This first phase of the EVM sidechain is currently available for testing on the XRPL Devnet. Using a bridge, developers can test the exchange of Devnet XRP between the EVM sidechain and XRP Ledger to assess available technologies. (Also, developers can deploy) their existing Solidity apps on the EVM sidechain and access the XRPL Devnet userbase.”
Permission Less EVM Sidechain On XRPL Mainnet
This could be an important step in the prospects of Ripple Developer Ethereum ecosystem. In the later stages, the Ripple developers plan on having a permission less EVM sidechain and bridge available on the XRPL Mainnet. This would be the last and final stage in this project, to which the developers have not set a target date as yet. For starters, developers can begin with trying out the new EVM sidechain. They can do so by connecting XRPL Devnet with a XUMM wallet, connecting Metamask with the EVM sidechain. From here on, developers can transfer XRP from XRPL Devnet to the EVM sidechain and back again.
Meanwhile, Ripple (XRP) price took the path of an upward curve, in what could be a potential consequence of this announcement. As of writing, XRP price stands at $0.4807, down 0.43% in the last 24 hours, according to price tracking platform CoinMarketCap. Ethereum (ETH) price stands at $1,333, up 3.77% in the last 24 hours.