Ripple CTO Says Hooks Could Pose Multibillion-Dollar Risk for XRPL Users

Ripple’s Chief Technology Officer, David Schwartz, has highlighted the potential hazards linked to the experimentation of smart contract-like capabilities in the XRP Ledger through Hooks.

The commentary came during an exclusive interview with CoinDesk. The interviewer probed the exploration of the Hooks feature, seeking insights into its roadmap and significance for XRP stakeholders.

In response, Schwartz disclosed that Ripple had minimal input into the development of Hooks. He noted the Ripple team acknowledged its promising potential during initial discussions.

Two Potential Risks of Hooks for XRP Stakeholders

However, Schwartz voiced two potential risks associated with Hooks for the XRP ecosystem. Firstly, he underscored the substantial financial risk posed by any potential flaws in the feature that could compromise the integrity of the XRP Ledger. 

According to the Ripple CTO, such flaws “would be a multibillion-dollar problem” for XRP investors and stakeholders.

Furthermore, Schwartz stressed the importance of preserving the XRP Ledger’s primary function as a robust payment platform.

He expressed concerns that adopting Hooks could transform XRPL into a more Ethereum-like network. Essentially, he sees it altering XRPL’s core purpose as a seamless payment protocol.

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Nonetheless, during the interview, Schwartz expressed openness to welcoming XRPL’s potential to serve purposes beyond its primary focus.

He welcomed the concept of other chains evolving around XRPL, addressing diverse use cases like smart contracts, real-world asset tokenization, and tokenized securities.

Potential Adoption of Hooks on XRP Mainnet

Furthermore, the Ripple executive noted that the XRPL Labs, the team behind Hooks, had launched their network, Xahau, utilizing XRPL technology.

As The Crypto Basic reported previously, Schwartz believes Xahau represents an effective avenue to test-run Hooks.

He mentioned that if the tech demonstrates its efficacy without undermining the network’s performance for other purposes, there could be a proposal to incorporate Hooks into the XRP Ledger mainnet. Schwartz sees such a proposal coming to fruition within the next year or two.