Ripple Plans Major XRP Ledger Upgrades for 2027
Ripple's engineering director outlined the company's performance and feature roadmap for the XRP Ledger in 2027.
Updated on Nov. 8, 2026 in Semiconductors
Ripple's director of engineering, Viijay Khanna, confirmed the company is readying major plans for the XRP Ledger in 2027, following the release of xrpld 3.3.0 in November 2026, which cut node RAM use by 13-23%. Critics have compared the network's roughly 1,500 transactions per second against the average daily load of Visa.
Why it matters
The planned overhaul is a preventive measure against future network overload, and Ripple is steering high-volume retail microtraffic toward a second layer such as Dassie (Interledger). Ripple president Monica Long has also announced plans to relay a large share of the company's clients' payments directly on the XRP Ledger.
Ripple's xrpld 3.3.0 release cut node RAM use by 13-23%, while the 2027 roadmap includes 24 complex amendments costing $5.774 million, including native smart contracts via WebAssembly (XLS-101). The roadmap's delivery timeline and performance outcomes remain unconfirmed.
The players
Ripple
Ripple is a San Francisco-based blockchain and payments company that develops the XRP Ledger and offers cross-border payment solutions to financial institutions.
Viijay Khanna
Viijay Khanna is the director of engineering at Ripple, responsible for technical development of the XRP Ledger.
Monica Long
Monica Long is the president of Ripple, overseeing the company's business strategy and client payment operations.
The details
A bug caused the software to withhold server resources after cache emptying, and a fixCleanup package was deployed to the network on November 4, 2026, allowing validators to decrease infrastructure costs. The 2027 roadmap also plans lending pools, options (XLS-62), and repo markets for interbank lending covered by tokenized assets, along with heavy CPU demand for pathfinding inside the native decentralized exchange.
Timeline
November 4, 2026: The fixCleanup package was deployed to the XRP Ledger network.
November 2026: xrpld 3.3.0 was released, cutting node RAM use by 13-23%.
2027: Ripple's planned XRP Ledger performance improvements are scheduled.
The Tech Race
Critics have compared the XRP network's roughly 1,500 transactions per second against the average daily load of Visa, and labeled the XRPL an outdated copy of legacy payment systems. Ripple's engineering department is aiming to exit the race for TPS metrics, instead routing retail microtraffic to a second layer such as Dassie (Interledger).
The planned native smart contracts, lending pools, and options could change how users transact and borrow on the XRP Ledger once delivered. Users relying on XRP Ledger payments may see reduced infrastructure costs from the bug fix that let validators lower their operating expenses.
The takeaway
Network operators are prioritizing efficiency and overload prevention over raw throughput claims, a shift that could define how blockchain payment networks compete. Readers tracking XRP Ledger developments should watch whether the 2027 roadmap milestones are met.
What happens next
Ripple's XRP Ledger performance improvements and the 2027 roadmap amendments are scheduled for 2027.
Further reading
For broader context on blockchain infrastructure and the technology behind distributed ledgers, explore the Semiconductors section.
Source note: This article includes information reported by U.
