The XRP Ledger (XRPL) has reached a 15-year milestone, marking the start of development by David Schwartz on November 11, 2011. The project, which later became the foundation for Ripple's blockchain-based financial services, was designed as an alternative to Bitcoin with a focus on efficient transactions and global payments. That timeline places the ledger among the earliest blockchain networks still in operation, launched three years after Bitcoin and three years before Ethereum.

According to the official XRP account on X, Schwartz began writing the network's first code in November 2011, working alongside Jed McCaleb and Arthur Britto to build a blockchain that could process transactions without relying on Bitcoin's energy-intensive mining model. Replacing competitive mining with agreement among network participants has remained the ledger's defining technical distinction throughout its 15 years of operation.

From NewCoin to Ripple: Building a Payment Network

The XRP Ledger launched in June 2012, introducing a consensus-based mechanism for processing transactions and transferring digital assets. Its early development later contributed to the formation of a company that would become Ripple.

In September 2012, Chris Larsen joined the founding group, which established a company initially named NewCoin. The business later changed its name to OpenCoin before adopting the Ripple name.

During the development period, the XRPL founders transferred 80 billion XRP to the company to support the ecosystem's growth. Ripple later placed 55 billion XRP into an escrow arrangement to manage its holdings and make the token's potential release schedule more predictable. Under that structure, up to one billion XRP becomes available for release each month, a mechanism introduced to give the market greater predictability around supply.

Over time, the ledger expanded beyond basic cryptocurrency transfers, with its capabilities developed to support payments and other blockchain-based financial applications.

ETF Milestone and Scheduled Upgrade

The anniversary also arrives shortly after another milestone: the first anniversary of a U.S.-listed spot XRP exchange-traded fund. Canary Capital introduced its XRPC fund on November 13, 2025, becoming the first issuer to launch a spot XRP ETF in the United States. The fund's first anniversary falls two days after November 11, the date associated with Schwartz's initial development work on the ledger. As a spot product, the ETF holds XRP directly, giving investors exposure to the token through standard brokerage accounts rather than crypto exchange platforms.

Separately, XRPL developers have scheduled version 3.5.0 for December 3, 2026. The update is expected to bring technical improvements and network fixes, including a permanent correction for occasional delays in ledger closing times. The planned fix follows temporary measures previously implemented by developers to address the issue, and the release marks another stage in the network's ongoing technical development. Because closing intervals determine how quickly the network finalizes transactions, the December 3, 2026 release date serves as the next concrete checkpoint for the ledger's payment-focused development roadmap.

From its first lines of code in 2011 to its expansion into blockchain-based payment applications, the XRP Ledger has undergone significant development. Its 15-year milestone comes as the network prepares for another scheduled software update.

About the writer: Marcus Renfield is a crypto market analyst and onchain writer who covers cryptocurrency markets with a focus on onchain data, Bitcoin price action, and emerging market narratives.