Panos Mekras, a blockchain advisor focused on the XRP Ledger (XRPL) and the founder of Anodos Finance, recently shared what he thinks is the only way the XRPL ecosystem could succeed.
Mekras’ remarks come at a time when the XRPL community has continued to lament the slow growth of the blockchain ecosystem and the underperformance of XRP, its native token. More particularly, these complaints have focused on the lack of smart contracts on the network.
In addition, the ecosystem has also not witnessed as many builders as other relatively newer chains like Solana and Ethereum despite boasting over 1,500 projects as of November 2023. Issues like these have compounded the growing concerns and complaints from community members.
In a post on X, Mekras aimed to address the concerns surrounding the ecosystem’s slow progress. He suggested that the community adopt an approach that would see the multiple aspects of the ecosystem and all projects building within the ecosystem receive the necessary support for their respective growths.
XRPL mainnet, Xahau, EVM sidechain, Coreum, Flare, Futurverse… anything that is connected to XRPL, extends XRP’s utility, and opens the way for more potential use cases, and more devs, builders and projects to come in this ecosystem, is great both for XRP and XRPL. Embrace the…
— Panos 🔼{X} (@panosmek) February 12, 2024
He identified the XRPL mainnet and projects such as the Xahau sidechain, the upcoming EVM sidechain, the Coreum network, Flare Networks, and the Futureverse. Notably, all these projects have a sort of affiliation or connection with the XRP Ledger.
Escalating Criticisms
However, some of them have not received as much support as they need from community members. For instance, some XRP proponents argued that the Xahau sidechain, built by XRPL Labs, could trigger a shift of focus from the XRPL mainnet.
Moreover, Thomas Silkjær, Head of Analytics at the XRPL Foundation, contended this week that the upcoming EVM sidechain is the “biggest direct attack” on the XRP Ledger. According to him, the sidechain has no benefit to the XRPL and differs considerably in protocol to the ledger.
In my personal opinion, the EVM sidechain is the single biggest direct attack on the XRPL protocol, pushed by those that should be defending and working for the protocol.
It does nothing for rippled. It does nothing that makes the XRPL more attractive to new devs. It has little…
— Thomas Silkjær (@Silkjaer) February 10, 2024
Responding to Silkjær, former Ripple Director Matt Hamilton noted that he agrees with the sentiments around the EVM sidechain but asked if Xahau does not pose a bigger threat.
Silkjær stressed that the Xahau protocol, which features Hooks, could be replicated on the XRPL, making it useful for the network. Ripple CTO David Schwartz holds a similar sentiment, recently noting that Xahau could be a good avenue to test Hooks.
A Charge for XRP Community Support
However, in his latest remarks, Mekras argued that all these projects are out to help with the utility of the XRP Ledger as well as XRP as a token.
According to him, they open up new avenues for more use cases and attract builders, developers, and more projects to the XRP Ledger. He noted that they are “great both for XRP and XRPL.”
From the EVM sidechain to Flare’s FAssets project, the XRP ecosystem expects the development of multiple associated projects. Mekras charged the entire community to embrace these new innovations and the new changes, as well as the growing multi-chain ecosystem.
He implored community members to drum their support for the new projects building in the ecosystem and also participate in whatever way they can. According to Mekras, “This is the only way we succeed.”
