The XRP community has resurrected discussions around the possible long-term goals for Ripple and how these could impact XRP’s price outlook.

According to the host of Common Sense Crypto (CSC), Ripple’s real ambitions might go far beyond cross-border payments. Though these ideas remain speculative, they have triggered discussions, especially around Codius, Ripple’s dormant smart contract platform.

Speculation on Ripple’s True Plan

Recently, the host of CSC revived interest in Codius with claims that Ripple’s true intentions have always been focused on more than just cross-border payments.

According to the market commentator, Ripple is gearing up to manage the entire derivatives market—an industry that handles trillions of dollars in daily transactions.

This speculation stems from recent developments, most notably Ripple’s inclusion in the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) last August. In addition, crypto exchange Bitstamp also recently nudged Ripple to join in its development of a derivatives exchange.

The CSC host cited a controversial figure in the XRP community, Kendra Hill, who had previously suggested that cross-border payments were merely a testing ground for Ripple.

According to this theory, Ripple has been preparing for a larger use case all along. Hill suggested that Ripple might not have gone public with these plans because the company wasn’t ready. She claims the missing piece was Codius.

The Promise of Codius and Its Dormancy

Codius, conceived by then Ripple employee Stefan Thomas, was announced by the blockchain payment firm as a smart contract platform in 2014.

Unlike Ethereum’s blockchain-native approach, Codius aimed to support cross-blockchain operability, allowing developers to interact with different blockchain networks and external data sources.

However, despite its potential, Ripple eventually abandoned the development of Codius. The platform was shelved, as Ripple prioritized other projects, particularly focusing on cross-border payments, which have become Ripple’s core business strategy.

David Schwartz, Ripple’s CTO, has consistently spoken highly of Codius. He even stated in May 2020 that, if he was not working for Ripple, he would likely build a business around the platform.

Unfortunately, at least for now it’s a victim of the fact that Ripple can’t do everything we might want to do. If I wasn’t working at Ripple, I’d build a business around Codius.

— David “JoelKatz” Schwartz (@JoelKatz) May 3, 2020

Smart Contracts on the XRP Ledger

Interestingly, CSC’s host suggested that Codius was sidelined because smart contracts would have made Ripple’s payment solutions more expensive, complicating its competition with SWIFT.

However, he hinted that Ripple might be revisiting smart contracts as a core part of its strategy, especially with the development of an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) sidechain for the XRP Ledger (XRPL).

The EVM sidechain allows developers to deploy Ethereum-based smart contracts on the XRP Ledger, effectively merging XRP’s fast transactions with Ethereum’s programmable capabilities. Ripple recently revealed plans to explore native smart contracts functionality on the XRPL alongside the EVM sidechain.

While the EVM sidechain is still in development, the possibility of full smart contract capabilities on the XRPL could be important. Some analysts believe that if the XRPL successfully integrates these features, XRP’s value could skyrocket, potentially reaching the “four to five digits” range as speculated by CSC’s host.

However, it is important to note that these ideas remain purely speculative, with no direct evidence to support them as Ripple has not made any public statements indicating such intentions.