Existing cryptocurrencies and digital assets need to keep upgrading their core software at all times. In the case of Ripple and XRP, a new Rippled client has been released. Version 0.81.0 introduces some big changes to improve overall scalability as well as a new recommended validator configuration. Users are advised to upgrade to this new version as soon as possible. All of this shows there’s room for further improvements as far as Ripple is concerned.
Big Changes in the new Version of Rippled
Although software updates don’t get highlighted often, it’s always worth paying attention to what is going on with Ripple. This ecosystem has received a lot of interest in recent months, and its developers have been working hard to move things along. The new version of Rippled contains some big changes which will help take this project to a whole new level in the future. Especially when it comes to scaling and validating transactions, things have been advancing in the right direction lately.
The first part of these changes revolves around improving the Ripple ledger’s ability to scale. As most people know by now, the Ripple ledger is capable of handling around 15,000 transactions per second with relative ease. Although that may seem like a substantial number, it is still rather low compared to what other financial giants can bring to the table. As Ripple makes more inroads in the financial sector, its infrastructure will need to keep improving as well.
After all, it is not impossible Ripple would eventually compete with Visa in terms of transactions per second. It may seem like an ambitious goal, but if the rumors are true, we will see a lot more ledger activity for Ripple in the coming months. With multiple banks trialing this technology and Western Union potentially getting on board, things will get a lot more interesting in the future. It’s always best to scale well ahead of demand. Unfortunately, most cryptocurrencies have taken the opposite approach in this regard.
Additionally, there is another change in the new Rippled version. The recommended validator configuration has been transitioned to a new hosted site as part of Ripple’s larger decentralization strategy. Although this project is rather centralized right now, the company has big plans to step up its game in the future. Decentralization comes in many different forms, and Ripple’s plans may not necessarily mimic those of traditional cryptocurrencies.
Speaking of which, the decentralization strategy envisioned by the Ripple team is far from over. The company made a conscious decision to become the most trusted validator operator on the network during the initial stages. As the XRP ledger has matured, it is now time to leave that role to other parties. Additional validators have been added to the recommended list of trusted nodes in recent months. Eventually, no entity will operate a majority of recommended trusted nodes on the XRP ledger any longer.
With this new Rippled version, new validators can be safely added to the recommended list without requiring individual operators to manually update their configuration files accordingly. For people who are not invested in Ripple or don’t care what the company does, this will make little sense. Everyone else will acknowledge this is a big step in the right direction for this company, especially when considering it wants to establish a “trustless” ecosystem in the future. It will be interesting to see if it can succeed in this regard.
