Ripple CTO Proposes Two-Tier Staking Consensus for XRPL

Ripple’s CTO David Schwartz has unveiled a two-tier staking design for the XRP Ledger (XRPL) to enable staking rewards without centralizing power. Under the proposal, individual validators would police staked XRP and slashing would be a last-resort penalty. To guard against validator collusion, Schwartz suggests issuing a ‘worthless’ governance token—anyone can create one, but its supply and circulation are capped to prevent market value. Holders of this token would manage the validator list, replacing the existing Unique Node List (UNL) with a self-governing system. If token holders collude, participants could initiate a ‘fork by governance’ by launching a new token and directing their nodes to it. Schwartz likens this mechanism to a nuclear deterrent—strong because of the cost to misuse it. Reaction to the XRPL staking proposal is mixed; some traders warn that staking rewards could reignite conflicts between users and validators. Meanwhile, XRP trades near $2.15, down 10% on the week, with only 58.5% of supply in profit—the lowest in a year. Despite market pressure, the launch of U.S. spot XRP ETFs, starting with Canary XRPC, has drawn significant inflows, indicating institutional interest ahead of new fund launches.