EVM Sidechain Devnet is Now Available for Testing and Development

As of June 26, the EVM sidechain for the XRP Ledger is available on a new version of Devnet (v2). This new version features a decentralized bridge design using the XLS-38d specification and supports XRP, IOU, and ERC-20 token transfers in both directions between the XRP Ledger and EVM sidechain. This EVM sidechain uses a Proof of Authority (PoA) consensus mechanism. Developers are encouraged to test the new functionality of the Devnet v2, as well as the functionality of the bridge using all supported token types.

Connect to the new version of the EVM sidechain here:

• Name: EVM Sidechain
• RPC URL: https://rpc-evm-sidechain.xrpl.org
• Network identifier: 1440002
• Digital Asset: XRP
• EVM Block Explorer URL: https://evm-sidechain.xrpl.org
• Bridge URL: https://bridge.devnet.xrpl.org

For support, updated documentation is available at opensource.ripple.com. Developers are also welcome to engage in the XRPL developer Discord, which has a dedicated EVM-sidechain channel.

Full list of updates:

• EVM Sidechain:
  • Improved block time from 5.4 to 3.5 s/block
  • Improved chain performance upgrading Tendermint to Comet BFT consensus algorithm
  • Implemented PoA validator election mechanism
• Explorer:
  • Improved Sidechain Block Explorer, now including smart contract verification
  • Developed Explorer on the Cosmos layer (in progress)
• Bridge:
  • Included Faucet support to facilitate onboarding (for XRP and tokens)
  • Included support to bridge ERC-20 and IOU tokens
  • Implemented a Witness Bridge to now use XChain transactions to natively secure bridge transfers between XRPL and the Sidechain with XLS-38d
  • Witness bridge can now be distributed and operated by multiple parties - Up to 32 signers on XRPL
  • Witness keys can be stored on AWS KMS to safely secure the keys
• dApps:
  • Launched Gnosis Safe dApp used to secure the bridged assets on the EVM Sidechain part
  • Open dApp interface to everyone for safely creating a multisig account in the EVM Sidechain

The EVM sidechain is being developed by Peersyst in partnership with Ripple. Developers can iterate on their projects and applications faster and use popular smart contract languages like Solidity, while having access to XRP liquidity and a secure bridge to the XRP Ledger.

The original version of the EVM sidechain announced last October here will be available at the following URLs for the next 1 month after which it will be retired. Developers are encouraged to use the new EVM sidechain instead to deploy their apps.

EVM Sidechain V1 (which will be retired in a month)

• RPC URL: https://archived-rpc-evm-sidechain.xrpl.org
• EVM Block Explorer URL: https://archived-evm-sidechain.xrpl.org
• Bridge URL: https://archived-bridge.devnet.xrpl.org

A security audit of the EVM sidechain is being conducted in July, the results of which will be published for the community to review. Peersyst and Ripple will take action to address any issues, and that information will also be shared with the community as well.

The EVM sidechain is expected to go live on mainnet following the approval of the XLS-38d bridge amendment. The bridge is dependent on the proposal of the amendment, followed by at least 80% of the XRPL validator community accepting the proposal and holding their vote for at least two weeks.