An $XRP validator has suggested that once the community bootstraps the native DEX with Deep liquidity, it’s “game over.”
The $XRP Ledger (XRPL) is seeing steady growth following recent upgrades, but a major gap remains. Vet stressed that building deep liquidity and bringing in high-quality assets to its native DEX could be the deciding factor.
Key Points
- Vet said bootstrapping XRPL’s native DEX with deep liquidity and high-quality assets could mean “game over.”
- XRPL has made progress in boosting on-chain liquidity, with the AMM ecosystem growing to 27,991 pools.
- The network already processes millions of daily payments, with peaks above 2.7 million.
- XRPL already holds $2 billion in real-world assets and $1.5 billion in represented RWAs, ranking among the top networks.
- The proposed XLS-66D lending protocol could help boost DEX liquidity further if approved.
Liquidity Boost Means “Game Over”
Amid recent upgrades and increasing activity on the XRPL, Vet, a dUNL validator, has implied that deep liquidity and strong asset quality may be the missing pieces needed to push the network further in decentralized finance (DeFi).
He claimed that building up the XRPL’s native decentralized exchange (DEX) with these elements could mean “game over.”
Notably, this builds on the network’s current strengths. Specifically, XRPL already runs a built-in DEX that supports order books and Automated Market Makers (AMMs).
It boasts fast settlement times of 3-5 seconds, very low fees, and built-in support for tokenized assets. Once the network combines these features with deep liquidity and high-quality assets, it could gain an edge over competitors.
XRPL AMM Growth and Rising Trading Volumes
Vet’s comments come on the back of recent improvements in on-chain liquidity. Over the past two years, XRPL has made progress in boosting liquidity, especially after launching AMM functionality in 2024.
The network now has 27,991 active AMM pools, with 22,462 assets and 16,450 unique tokens. Out of the active trading pairs, 21,840 pairs involve $XRP, with about 12.751 million $XRP currently locked across these pools.
Further, trading activity has also increased. Reports from earlier this year confirmed that daily DEX volumes ranged between $450 million and $600 million, marking about a 40% rise compared to the previous year. This growth has come from more consistent participation, especially from institutional-style traders.
Growth in Payments in Tokenized Assets
Elsewhere, XRPL continues to show strong performance in payments. The network processes millions of successful payments each day, with The Crypto Basic confirming recent peaks crossing the 2.7 million mark.
At the same time, the network has expanded its role in tokenization. XRPL ranks seventh among blockchain networks by total real-world asset (RWA) value, with $2 billion recorded.
Meanwhile, when considering only represented RWAs, it ranks fourth with $1.5 billion, placing it ahead of networks like Polygon, Avalanche, Solana, and Ethereum.
Tokenized U.S. Treasuries on XRPL make up much of this value, having reached $331 million in market value. The network also supports money market funds, gold, and other commodities through issuers such as Archax. In total, XRPL holds $1.1 billion in tokenized commodities, which makes up 15% of the global market in that category.
Liquidity Depth Still Needs Improvement
Despite this progress, the $XRP ecosystem still needs to improve the depth of its liquidity to match more established DeFi platforms.
While trading volumes continue to grow, many pools do not yet have enough capital to support larger-scale activity. This shows that the network still needs more consistent and deeper liquidity to compete at the highest level.
As a result, the community has started focusing on ways to bring more capital into the system and make better use of existing funds, leading to Vet’s recent commentary.
Community Eyes Lending Protocol
Notably, XLS-66D, a proposed native lending protocol aimed at improving liquidity, could help in this regard. This update was introduced in rippled version 3.1.0 and entered validator voting in January 2026.
It would allow on-chain, uncollateralized loans with fixed terms of about 30 to 180 days, funded through pooled assets in Single Asset Vaults built on XLS-65D. The proposal targets institutional users by offering a more efficient way to use capital.
As of now, the proposal remains under review by the XRPL’s 34 dUNL validators. However, support has been low so far, as validators remain cautious. Vet has advised the community to carefully review the proposal to ensure it is secure before approving it.
If approved, the upgrade could bring in large amounts of capital. According to Vet, firms like Evernorth are already preparing for the activation of the protocol.
