September 2024 was a busy month for the XRP and Ripple communities, with several important updates and milestones.

Dan Fisher, Community Relations Manager at Ripple, shared a thread summarizing these developments, which call to attention the ongoing growth and innovation in the ecosystem. Here are the key points from the month:

Ripple and XRPL Advancements

Ripple announced exploration of programmability for the XRP Ledger (XRPL). The firm plans to do this through the upcoming EVM sidechain and a possible native smart contracts functionality with community collaboration.

XRPscan, an explorer tool for the XRPL, introduced the beta version of an advanced feature for on-chain searches. The feature allows users to perform a more detailed analysis of on-chain data.

RippleX also revealed that the next XRPL Apex conference is set to take place in Singapore in June 2025. This annual event is an important gathering for the XRPL community.

AMM Performance and NFT Development

AMMs on XRPL saw notable fluctuations. According to XPMarket, the trading volume peaked at over $10.6 million in June but dropped to around $5.4 million by August. Despite the cooling volumes, the TVL in AMMs hit an ATH of $31.6 million.

DeXfi, a DeFi protocol on XRPL, launched an NFT marketplace and introduced new features to its platforms, dexfi.pro and the Xaman xApp.

New Infrastructure and Tools

Bithomp, a long-standing XRPL explorer, underwent a rebranding and moved to its own dedicated website, xrplexplorer.com.

Similarly, Vet, an XRPL dUNL validator, launched a tracker for the Ripple USD (RLUSD), allowing users to monitor the beta testing of the stablecoin across both the XRPL and Ethereum networks.

In addition, XRPL wallet Xaman rolled out version 3.0, which includes new features, improvements, and a monetization strategy aimed at ensuring the platform’s sustainability and growth.

Institutional and Enterprise Adoption

Grayscale launched an XRP Trust, which offers accredited investors the opportunity to gain exposure to XRP through private placements. This was the first of four phases in the introduction of an XRP ETF.

Zoniqx, a company specializing in real-world asset tokenization on XRPL, gained recognition at the 2024 FinTech Awards as the Most Innovative Tokenization & Liquidity Solutions Company.

XRPL Ecosystem Growth and Innovations

Meanwhile, Mayukha Vadari, a Senior Software Engineer at Ripple, introduced two new XRPL specifications: XLS-80d and XLS-81d. The first focuses on making on-chain permissioning easier, while the second enhances security and regulation in decentralized exchanges (DEX).

Spec announcement! I’ve just published two new XRPL specs focused around permissioning and compliance.

Read the specs to learn more! https://t.co/ycb4jyGamthttps://t.co/WU68dvQCLF

— Mayukha Vadari (@msvadari) September 12, 2024

Also, XRP Kuwait, another XRPL dUNL validator, announced the addition of two new infrastructure hubs. This development increased the XRPK hubs to four in number.

Furthermore, Anodos Finance celebrated its first anniversary on the XRP Ledger. Lastly, the XRPL Grants program introduced an AI funding track to support builders utilizing artificial intelligence on the platform.