XRPL Labs Developing Hooks Sidechain with XRP as Native Currency

Developers believe Hooks will soon be ready for real-life applications.

XRPL Labs lead developer Wietse Wind has revealed that developers are building a Hooks sidechain with XRP as the native currency.

The developer first made this known in a tweet yesterday in response to a request from a user, noting that they had already signed a security audit contract last week. According to Wind, following the audit and implementing improvements based on the audit, developers will roll out the sidechain.

We’re actually going to do this. Security audit contract signed last week.

After the audit (and potential improvements based on the results) there will be a side chain.

With XRP as the native asset. https://t.co/l6pPGyIz8l

— WietseWind – 🛠 XUMM @ XRPL Labs (@WietseWind) January 30, 2023

Notably, the developer reiterated the plan in a separate tweet minutes later, listing it among other projects the team is currently working on.

In another tweet explaining the motivations for the sidechain, the developer expressed confidence that Hooks will be ready for real-world use cases long before it launches on the mainnet. Consequently, he expressed hope that the sidechain will give it the required stress test, boosting confidence for mainnet implementation.

“Hooks will be ready for serious use much faster than it’ll be on mainnet,” Wind wrote. “I do hope a side chain with Hooks and real XRP will help with testing and getting everyone confident to allow it on mainnet one day.”

Hooks will be ready for serious use much faster than it’ll be on mainnet. I do hope a side chain with Hooks and real XRP will help with testing and getting everyone confident to allow it on mainnet one day.

— WietseWind – 🛠 XUMM @ XRPL Labs (@WietseWind) January 30, 2023

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For context, Hooks is a proposal to add smart contract functionality to the XRP Ledger. They are small codes that can execute commands before or after XRP transactions. While it is over two years in development, Wind reveals that, at present, validators can not vote on it yet, implying that it is still a long way away from mainnet implementation.

As reported last July, developers launched Hooks Builder, a web browser-based development environment for developers to build XRPL smart contracts and deploy them on the Hooks testnet.

Meanwhile, at the same time, developers are also working on an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible sidechain for the XRP Ledger. Notably, testing is already ongoing. It will give the XRP Ledger access to Ethereum smart contracts.

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