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– XRP Ledger aims to launch an EVM sidechain in the second quarter of this year to ensure compatibility with Ethereum.

Ripple CTO David Schwartz shared these plans at the Apex 2025 conference in Singapore.

XRP Ledger, a blockchain related to Ripple specializing in international transfers, plans to launch an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) sidechain in the second quarter of this year to add support for Ethereum smart contracts to its infrastructure.

Ripple CTO David Schwartz announced the timeline for the sidechain at the Apex 2025 conference in Singapore, according to Peersyst, one of the project’s key developers.

Sidechain, a parallel blockchain, will combine the benefits of XRP Ledger in the form of low-cost transactions with Ethereum’s smart contract functionality. It is being developed by Ripple and Peersyst using the evmOS software stack.

The sidechain is currently running on a test network in preparation for its launch on the main network, which is planned after further tests and partnerships with validators in the second quarter.

Although XRP Ledger already supports its own smart contracts, the network is currently not compatible with EVM, a computing environment widely used by Ethereum developers for application development. Flare Network, integrated with XRPL, also provides smart contract functionality using an EVM-compatible layer.