In a significant milestone for the XRP Ledger, the highly anticipated ‘Credentials’ amendment has officially gone live, introducing a robust on-chain identity and compliance framework to the protocol. As of September 2025, XRPL has activated this major upgrade, enabling native Know Your Customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) controls directly on the blockchain.
This development marks a crucial step forward in XRP Ledger’s evolution, enhancing its capabilities to support secure, transparent, and regulated financial transactions. XRPL has also been expanding its ecosystem through partnerships like Wormhole, enabling cross-chain transfers.
With this Credentials amendment, XRPL is poised to provide a more secure and reliable environment for users and institutions alike, leveraging the power of verifiable credentials to attest facts about XRPL accounts without compromising privacy.
However, this major upgrade has failed to propel the XRP price into a positive trend. Despite this development, XRP has taken an unexpected dip, sparking speculation among investors and enthusiasts.
XRPL Credentials Amendment
The XRP Ledger has activated its Credentials amendment today, with 28 of 35 validator votes. This upgrade introduces on-chain compliance tools, including KYC and AML protocols. The amendment was implemented following XRPL’s governance model, which required over 80% of validators to approve it for a period of two weeks. Once this supermajority was maintained, an EnableAmendment event was triggered, permanently activating the new rules for all future ledgers.
KYC and AML Controls
Notably, the Credentials amendment (XLS-00070) update enhances compliance directly on the ledger. It could enable XRPL to ensure verifiable credentials to users or institutions, enhancing identity verification and compliance. According to the ledger,
“The Credentials feature is a set of tools for managing authorization and compliance requirements using the XRP Ledger blockchain, while respecting privacy and decentralization…Credentials provide a set of tools for managing authorization and compliance requirements on the XRP Ledger, while respecting privacy and decentralization”—a framing that makes the feature legible to regulated actors who need attestations without building proprietary allow-lists.”
New On-Chain Functionality
Now, the XRPL introduces new on-chain functionality, enabling the issuance, validation, and revocation of credentials through three main transaction types. They include CredentialCreate, CredentialAccept, and CredentialDelete.
While CredentialCreate allows a credential to be issued, CredentialAccept confirms the reception, and CredentialDelete removes them from the ledger. “The documents that [the user] sends… are never published or stored on the blockchain,” said XRPL.
This approach allows multiple counterparties to trust the same credential, eliminating redundant verification, while maintaining a balance between on-chain attestations and off-chain evidence. It adapts the W3C Variable Credentials model to the XRPL, ensuring attestations remain portable across the ledger’s features.
The upgrade also introduces a new Credential ledger entry type and enhances the DepositPreauth feature for credential-based authorization. Additionally, a CredentialIDs field is added to key transactions, allowing senders to present credentials when interacting with compliant destinations, thereby streamlining identity verification and compliance processes on the XRPL.
XRP Price Dips 6%
Despite this significant update that had the potential to boost the XRP price, they failed to capitalize on the development. Instead of an anticipated surge, the token exhibited a notable dip, declining by about 6% over the past month. Although XRP price rose by a marginal 0.2% over the past day, it has plummeted by 5.7% over the week.
The trading volume is also down by 33%, reaching $4.4 billion. However, with a market cap of $169.23 billion, XRP remains safe at the top 3 position on CoinMarketCap.
Will XRP Hit $400 in 2028?
Although XRP is currently experiencing a short-term downtrend, experts and analysts remain optimistic about its long-term price trend. According to analyst STEPH IS CRYPTO, the Ripple token is poised to hit an ambitious target of $400 in 2028.
Despite this long-term bullish prediction for XRP, its near-future performance remains unknown. Time is needed to analyse this trend and its potential impact. Traders should exercise caution and conduct thorough research, questioning assumptions before making any investment decisions.
