How do XRP Ledger upgrades (amendments) get approved, and who decides?

The full answer

How does an amendment become active?

Crypto Daily described the XRP Ledger in July 2026 as evolving through amendments that need a supermajority of validators to support them continuously for a set voting window [5]. crypto.news gave the rule on 18 September 2026 as more than 80% support from trusted validators, held continuously for two weeks, before an amendment’s rules become active [1]. An earlier XRPL.org amendment notice worded the test as the continuous support of at least 80% of trusted validators, after which an amendment becomes enabled on its scheduled date [3]. XRPL.org’s amendment documentation states that if an amendment receives more than 80% support for two weeks, the amendment passes and the change applies permanently to all subsequent ledger versions, though as of October 2, 2026 I could not find a dated publication or last-updated date for that wording.

The DynamicNFT amendment shows the sequence. XRPL.org posted on 3 June 2025 that it had gained support from a supermajority of validators and would become enabled on June 11, 2025 if it kept continuous support [3]. An XRPL.org post of 18 July 2025 confirmed it became enabled on June 11, 2025 [3].

Does installing new software count as a vote?

New amendments ship inside releases of the reference server software. crypto.news reported in September 2026 that version 3.4.0 introduces LendingProtocolV1_1 and fixCleanup3_4_0 [1].

crypto.news reported that the 3.4.0 release does not mean either new amendment is active on mainnet [1]. Citing XRPL’s amendment rules, it said installing software that contains an amendment only gives a server the code needed to understand the proposed rules, and validators separately choose whether to vote for activation [1]. It reported that the current XRPLF feature code keeps both 3.4.0 amendments at DefaultNo, so running the software does not itself cast a yes vote when an operator has not configured another choice [1]. Defaults differ by amendment: XRPL.org’s 3.4.1 release, published 25 September 2026, sets the default vote for its new fixBatchV1_2 amendment to Yes [2].

What happens to servers that do not upgrade?

The same post said that if it keeps that support and is enabled then, servers not updated to 3.4.1 will become amendment blocked and unable to maintain sync with the rest of the network [2]. XRPL.org used the same term in its 18 July 2025 post, which said servers older than v2.4.0 were amendment blocked [3].

Can an amendment lose support or be stopped?

An XRPL.org post dated 13 January 2020 reported that fixCheckThreading and fixPayChanRecipientOwnerDir had lost the support of several validators, dropping below the 80% threshold, so they were no longer expected to become enabled on January 18, 2020 [3]. That post pointed to EnableAmendment LostMajority transactions recording the change on the ledger [3]. An XRPL.org notice of 7 October 2016 said the Flow amendment, first introduced in rippled 0.32.1, was later vetoed after a flaw was discovered in the code while testing [3]. On 23 February 2026, XRPL.org announced version 3.1.1, which disabled the Batch and fixBatchInnerSigs amendments because of a severe bug [3]. The wider record of bugs and incidents is on the page asking whether the XRP Ledger has ever halted, forked or lost funds.

Crypto Daily listed non-activation as a risk for the lending amendments in July 2026: if validators do not sustain a supermajority, mainnet does not change [5].

Who proposes amendments and writes the code?

XRPL.org credits version 3.4.1 to a collaboration of RippleX Engineering and the XRP Ledger Foundation [2]. Crypto Daily described the vault and lending amendments as Ripple’s proposal, split into two specifications [5]. XRPL Labs is named as the author of a 26 February 2026 XRPL.org vulnerability report on the Batch amendment [3]. The amendment process, as described by xrpl.org, is that a consensus of validators adds a pending amendment to the Majorities field via an EnableAmendment pseudo-transaction with the tfGotMajority flag when 80% or more of validators support it, and if it remains there for at least 2 weeks, an EnableAmendment pseudo-transaction with no flags permanently adds it to the Amendments field. XRPL.org’s contribution guide says the software that powers the XRP Ledger is open source and that anyone can download, modify, extend, or explore it [10]. Before committing to development, a contributor must start a discussion in the XRPL-Standards repository; the code is then submitted as a pull request, and after XRP Ledger maintainers approve the pull request it is merged into the development branch [10]. The guide says new amendments go through the consensus process and validators vote on whether to enable them [10]. Who pays for this work is covered in who writes and pays for the XRP Ledger’s software.

Can Ripple change the XRP Ledger’s rules on its own?

The lending amendments are the current test case. Crypto Daily reported that they are not active on mainnet unless validators approve them [5]. crypto.news reported that Ripple’s validator voted for SingleAssetVault and LendingProtocol in August 2026, but validator approval remained well below the level required for mainnet activation [1].

Coinpaper, republished by KuCoin on 31 August 2026, put support at about 37% (13 of 35 validators) for SingleAssetVault and about 34% (12 of 35) for LendingProtocol, both well below the 80% threshold [4]. crypto.news cited a 17 September 2026 snapshot, based on XRPL Foundation validator-history data, of 16 of 35 trusted validators supporting SingleAssetVault and 13 of 35 supporting LendingProtocol [1]. It said those counts are time-sensitive and come from an independent network tracker, not from the release notes [1]. Whether the lending features have since gone live is tracked on Is native lending live on the XRP Ledger yet?, and Ripple’s wider powers are examined in Does Ripple control XRP or the XRP Ledger?.

Where can the live voting record be read?

XRPL.org’s site navigation links to an Amendment Voting Status page, and its footer links to a Known Amendments page [2]. Crypto Daily cited the Known Amendments page as listing SingleAssetVault and LendingProtocol as open for validator voting on mainnet as of 30 June 2026 [5]. crypto.news drew its September count from XRPL Foundation validator-history data [1]. XRPL.org also posts notices when an amendment is expected, enabled or loses its majority [3]. Reading on-ledger records such as EnableAmendment transactions is explained in how to look up an XRP Ledger transaction on a public explorer.

What is the strongest critique of this process?

The 80% test counts trusted validators [1]. An XRPL.org release note from October 2018 described rippled 1.1.1 as improving how servers handle validator list sites and retrieve Ripple’s recommended UNL [3]. The case that the default list concentrates influence is set out in Does the default validator list make the XRP Ledger centralized?.

XRPL.org had not published the 3.4.1 source code at the time of the release announcement, which references a commit dated 24 September 2026, because of the security-sensitive nature of the fix [2]. The same post reported that the amendment already had supermajority support [2].