This sidechain was introduced by a blockchain network associated with cross-border payment company Ripple, allowing developers to build, port, and deploy cross-chain Ethereum-compatible applications within the XRP ecosystem. The official statement mentioned that this parallel blockchain will combine the low-cost transaction advantages of the XRP ledger with Ethereum's smart contract functionality, optimizing the infrastructure for speed, security, and scalability, thus paving the way for new decentralized applications such as lending, asset tokenization, and payments.

It is reported that the XRPL EVM sidechain was co-developed by Ripple, Peersyst, and Axelar, utilizing the software architecture of Evmos. While the XRP ledger previously supported limited on-chain smart contract programming, it had not been compatible with EVM. However, the Flare network, integrated with the XRP ledger, has separately provided smart contract capabilities through an EVM compatibility layer. This sidechain is connected to the XRPL mainnet via Axelar as the exclusive cross-chain bridge to transfer wrapped assets like XRP, with these assets serving as the sidechain's native fuel token. [BlockBeats]