XRP Ledger upgrade clears final vote as XRP holds above $1.01

XRP Ledger validators approved the protocol's largest feature upgrade in years on July 26, clearing the final governance vote for batch transactions and confidential transfers.

"The security work behind this release put everything else on hold for months, but we can start resuming now," Vet, a prominent XRPL validator, said on X.

The upgrade package includes five amendments: Batch, which groups multiple transactions into a single atomic unit; Confidential Transfers, which hides token amounts using zero-knowledge proofs; Sponsored Fees and Reserves; Permission Delegation; and Dynamic Multi-Purpose Tokens. Activation requires 28 of 35 validators, or more than 80%, to maintain support for two consecutive weeks. A critical signature-checking flaw discovered in February forced developers to rebuild the Batch feature from scratch, putting it through an attackathon, a full security audit, and four separate reviews before re-integrating it.

The upgrade addresses two of the longest-standing barriers to institutional adoption on the XRP Ledger. Confidential Transfers let businesses move tokenized assets — the ledger already hosts over $1 billion in such assets — without exposing transaction amounts to competitors. Batch eliminates the risk of partial transaction failures that has plagued the network since launch. XRP traded at $1.05 as of 14:00 UTC, holding above the $1.01 low it touched during the ongoing bear market pullback.

The vote's passage marks a turning point for development on the XRP Ledger, which had stalled since February when the Batch vulnerability was discovered. Core developer Denis Angell announced the fix was ready for voting after the rebuild cleared security review, declaring "Batch is BACK" upon merging it into the repository.

Most trusted validators had already upgraded to the new software by early July, signaling broad support before the formal vote opened. The maintenance amendment fixCleanup3_2_0, a smaller change, cleared its own two-week threshold this month with 30 of 35 validators backing it, and is set to activate around July 29.

XRP has fallen more than 70% from its $3.65 peak in July 2025, when the token came within 5% of its all-time high of $3.84 set in 2018. The token's market capitalization stood at roughly $69 billion as of July 26, according to CoinGecko data.

Analysts have outlined bullish scenarios contingent on the upgrade's success. Ali Martinez said a sustained break above $1.13 could trigger a 20% rally toward $1.35. EGRAG CRYPTO identified a triple-bottom formation with support between $0.90 and $1.00, with a breakout zone between $2.38 and $3.54 representing a key turning point.

The CLARITY Act, which would codify XRP's status as a digital commodity under federal law, remains a separate catalyst. The bill needs 60 Senate votes to pass, and Democrats have said the current Republican text falls short.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.