• Ripple said its sales of XRP slowed in its latest Q4 market report.
• The firm said it launched the EVM sidechain to put DeFi applications like Uniswap on XRPL.

Blockchain payments firm, Ripple Labs Inc has published its Q4 2022 XRP Markets Report detailing the trend in the broader digital currency ecosystem in the wake of current realities. According to the report shared by the firm, it recorded a number of significant milestones including the launch of its On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) in France, Sweden, and Africa.

The Q4 2022 XRP Markets Report is now live–detailing ebbs and flows in the broader crypto market to a ramp up in regulatory actions, as well as significant XRPL technical developments including XLS-20 going live on Mainnet, and the EVM sidechain on Devnet.https://t.co/mxpJAHfZTf

— Ripple (@Ripple) January 30, 2023

Ripple revealed that its sales of XRP coin, net of purchases, came in at $226.31 million in the fourth quarter as against the $310.68 million recorded in the previous quarter. The company noted that the plunge in sales stems from the negative outlook fueled by the collapse of the FTX Derivatives Exchange.

While Ripple highlighted how it took the hit, the firm noted a bigger impact for companies operating in the ecosystem. One major impact was the loss of trust in centralized exchanges, a trend that saw many move their funds away from these trading venues. The report highlighted that exchanges like Binance made attempt to regain trust by publishing Proof-of-Reserve (PoR).

Despite this show of transparency, Ripple noted that the result was against the obvious expectations as the disclosure level was not 100%. Based on this, investors are choosing a relatively safe custody measure in order not to get burned again. The report reads;

As such, market participants have drastically reduced balances posted to exchanges, increased withdrawal frequency, and shortened horizons for most trading strategies, all culminating in a heavy drag on liquidity coupled with volatile prices,

Amid the broad gloom that engulfed the ecosystem, Ripple said the industry has now entered its consolidation phase. Based on this, the firm noted the current tide will be favorable for its goals as a major builder in the space.

Ripple launches EVM Compatility on XRPL

One of the major highlights shared by the firm is the debut of the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatibility on the XRP Ledger on Devnet. This new feature will help to open up the Ripple ecosystem to the highly liquid world of Ethereum.

As unveiled by Ripple, the EVM compatibility will make it easy for protocols like Aave, Uniswap, and Compound to run on the XRPL. This will not only bolster the smart contract capabilities of the XRP Ledger but will also help drive the growth of the XRP coin across the board.

Ripple confirmed that the EVM “milestone means more developers can easily access the XRPL’s feature set (such as its speed, sustainability, and low-cost transactions) while being able to code Solidity-based smart contracts. Additionally, this opens the door for successful DeFi applications like Uniswap, Aave, and Compound, to easily launch on the XRPL.”

In the market report, Ripple also gave additional details about other aspects of its operations. These include the release of about 3 billion XRP coins from escrow in the fourth quarter, in its characteristic manner. In all, the company said it is proud of its current defense in its legal tussle with the US SEC and awaits a favorable judgment from the court.