Ripple CTO said that the update would make it easier to find validators. Schwartz explained that performance is not the only criterion in the choosing process.
The CTO at Ripple David Schwartz has announced that the new XRP Ledger upgrade will be a “game changer.” Schwartz said the upgrade would expand the decentralization of the network. He further explained that the update would help validators that are offline or malfunctioning. Notably, each server in the XRPL protocol has a Unique Node List (UNL) which contains a list of participating validators.
A minimum of 80% of trusted validators must agree to reach the required quorum on the network. Hence, the network stops validating ledgers if more than 20% of trusted validators can not communicate with others or go offline. If this happens, the online validators will only be able to provide tentative and past transaction data.
XRP Ledger Upgrade
On the 1st of November, Schwartz announced the game-changing update in a tweet and shared a detailed document on XRP Ledger’s Negative UNL update.
By the way, this feature will be a huge game changer for XRPL's UNL evolution: https://t.co/oxCmRQllGY
— David "JoelKatz" Schwartz (@JoelKatz) November 1, 2020
According to the shared document, the update will only affect validators that are malfunctioning or temporarily unavailable. The document highlighted the possible causes that can make validators go offline. They include hardware failures, hardware maintenance, software upgrades, human error, targeted attacks, natural disasters, and internet problems.
Currently, the update is not available as it is still under check in the Ripple 1.6.0 test network.
In addition, the CTO said that the update would make it easier to find validators. Schwartz explained that performance is not the only criterion in the choosing process. Other factors that need to be considered are “jurisdiction, institutional commitment, network redundancy, commitment to the network, and many others.
He added:
“The biggest advantage of the negative UNL proposal is that it will make it much easier to say ‘yes’ to more diverse validators, even if they are running on a single residential connection with a tiny machine in someone’s living room.”
Also, the document further provided information on enabling the Negative UNL for testing:
“Negative UNL functionality is currently available for testing on Devnet. You can test the Negative UNL feature by adding or modifying a [features] stanza in your rippled.cfg file, as described in Connect Your rippled to a Parallel Network.”
Ripple Joins Civic Alliance
In support of a fair and unbiased election in the U.S., Ripple has joined forces with other companies to create Civic Alliance. The body claims to be a non-partisan group of businesses that have come together to “build a future where everyone participates in shaping the country.”
On the 2nd of November, Ripple declared its 100% support with Civic Alliance in a tweet.
We believe voting should be safe and accessible to everyone, everywhere. That's why Ripple is 100% in #ForDemocracy with @CivicAlliance. https://t.co/cElz3dp4Tc pic.twitter.com/djGzEuTEY1
— Ripple (@Ripple) November 2, 2020
With over 5 million employees, Civic Alliance has over 900 members. Other companies that have joined Civic Alliance include PayPal Holdings Inc (NYSE: PYPL), Twitter Inc (NYSE: TWTR), Facebook Inc (NASDAQ: FB), and others.