The new Solana DEX project has drawn new attention to the early exchange design of the XRP Ledger.
summary
- Matt Hamilton said XRP Ledger solved DEX ordering issues years before Solana’s Mato offering.
- XRPL’s built-in DEX has been in operation since 2012, giving XRP a long-standing native DeFi base.
- XRPL developers are also testing lending and AMM upgrades for broader cross-chain financing.
Crypto commentator Crypto Goblin said Mato, which was introduced by founder Thomas Gehrmann at Solana Summit in Germany, uses a continuous clearing auction to reduce front-run games and order chaining.
Mato’s view is based on processing commands in parallel rather than one at a time. The model allows orders to flow over a user-specified time period, then scanning active demand and supply at a market price that is updated when orders are entered or left.
Its basic message is that trading can become fairer when no party controls the chain of orders and no recipient has priority over other users.
Matt Hamilton points to XRP Ledger
Former Ripple developer Matt Hamilton He replied The XRP Ledger addressed similar market structure problems many years ago. “This problem was solved 15 years ago on the XRP Ledger,” he wrote.
Hamilton also described XRPL as “the first DEX out there,” while saying that other blockchains continue to try to solve the same problem again.
“It’s great that this problem has now been resolved in Solana, but I’m afraid that’s why we’re not moving forward as an industry,” he added.
His comment puts XRP’s early design in the spotlight once again. The XRP Ledger launched in 2012 with a built-in DEX order book, allowing users to trade XRP and issue tokens directly on the network.
The XRP Ledger DEX remains active
XRPL documents indicate that its DEX central limit order book does not require automated market makers to process swaps. Trades can use the order book, AMMs, or both, depending on available liquidity.
Ripple has described the XRPL DEX as one of the world’s oldest decentralized exchanges, operating continuously since 2012. This long track record helps explain why XRP proponents often look to the network as an early DeFi platform, even though the term DeFi became popular years later.
The system differs from later DEX models. Instead of relying on smart contracts, XRPL has built its ledger exchange tools. This design keeps the trading functionality close to the underlying protocol.
Crypto.news coverage shows that XRPL’s DEX design is still evolving. XRPL Foundation recently Suggested “Swapable AMM Curves” to add StableSwap and concentrated liquidity options to your local automated market maker.
New XRP Ledger Upgrades Keep DeFi Focus Alive
crypto.news too I mentioned That XRPL votes on XLS-65 and XLS-66, amendments that would bring native treasuries and fixed-rate lending to the ledger. The plan will allow users to pool assets in vaults and fund term loans without external smart contracts.
This lending proposal sits alongside other institutional-focused work on XRPL. Ripple and Bitso recently launched the Mexican Peso stablecoin MXNB on the ledger and linked it to Ripple payments on the DEX infrastructure for regulated settlement.
The discussion initiated by Hamilton does not mean that Mato and XRPL are identical. Mato focuses on Solana’s continuous auction model, while XRPL has long used a native order book and later added AMM tools.
However, the exchange of comments shows how older blockchain designs could return to the center of market discussion. As Solana developers test new DEX models, XRP proponents point to XRPL’s long-running DEX as evidence that some ideas in the cryptocurrency space are arriving early.
