From Decrypt · By Decrypt Agent
In brief
XRP Ledger developers are patching its new lending protocol before it goes live, adding a follow-up amendment to fix the original LendingProtocol code while it’s still in the network’s voting queue.
The protocol enables on-chain, fixed-term, uncollateralized loans using pooled funds and “first-loss capital” to absorb defaults, relying on off-chain underwriting rather than automated collateral; amendments need 80% validator support over two weeks to activate.
The pre-launch fix follows a recent near-miss when developers patched a dormant payment-engine bug that could have minted counterfeit XRP.
The XRP Ledger is patching its new lending feature before a single loan has been written on it, adding a second code amendment to repair the system while it waits in the network’s approval queue.
The ledger’s lending protocol, a DeFi building block that enables on-chain, fixed-term, uncollateralized loans drawn from pooled funds, was introduced through an amendment called LendingProtocol that is still open for validator voting.
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Rather than wait for that version to go live and then fix it, developers have published a follow-up, LendingProtocolV1_1, that corrects issues in the original before it ever takes effect. The documentation now lists both amendments as requirements for the feature, meaning the network would adopt the repaired version from the start.
The approach reflects how changes reach the XRP Ledger. New features and fixes ship as amendments that must earn support from at least 80% of trusted validators over a two-week period before activating.
Because the original lending code hasn’t cleared that bar yet, patching it with a second amendment avoids launching a known-flawed system onto the live network, then scrambling to repair it afterward.
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The caution follows a close call elsewhere in the ledger’s code. Developers recently disclosed and fixed a critical bug in the XRP Ledger’s payment engine that could have let an attacker mint counterfeit XRP, a flaw that sat dormant for roughly a decade before a researcher flagged it. Fixing the lending code pre-launch fits a more cautious posture around new functionality.