Ripple offered one of the fastest payment chains known as the XRP Ledger or XRPL. This ledger aims to compete with Ethereum’s L2 ecosystem in scalability and liquidity based on payment speed and low transaction costs.
Both solutions offer a similar range of transactions per second, but XRPL has a native finality process rather than relying on Ethereum. Learn more about the XRP Ledger and Ethereum Layer 2, including the pros and cons of different types of chains.
Why payment speed is important
Payments vs. Smart Contracts vs. Rollup Payments
Settlement speed (also known as finality) is a key factor that defines the use case for the network. XRPL settles transactions to finality in 3-5 seconds. This is standard for most chains.
There is no preview period or wait time. When comparing Ethereum L2 rollups, all chains have different times to finality. These L2s must wait until the Ethereum block creates a permanent secure record.
While paying with cryptocurrencies is relatively simple, smart contract activity creates complexity. Without instant payments, there are concerns about delays and potential for abuse.
Additionally, rollups take a relatively long time to finalize, resulting in delays in using the app. It can take minutes or even hours for the rollup to be finalized.
Growing institutional interest in fast finality
Institutional finance that uses blockchain has expressed concerns about finality. Previous encryption stages involved days-long delays to make transactions irreversible, such as waiting for confirmations from multiple nodes.
The payment and finality process may take several minutes and may cause significant delays in your transactions and use of the app. Fast finality aims to enable a fast process while being fair and tamper-proof. The biggest challenge is achieving reliable and fast node consensus without sacrificing security.
Use cases that require instant payments
Instant payments can improve the quality of your app using some form of on-chain payments. These include direct transfers, trading and on-chain swaps, treasury management, and more.
Apps with on-chain components aim to achieve the speed that regular users expect from fintech tools, so they require fast payments and no waiting time until finality.
Users may want to spend their funds immediately, rather than have their transactions locked in a temporary state until finality is achieved.
Overview of XRPL — a dedicated payment layer
XRPL is a dedicated payments layer for both native transactions and connections to other chains. Transactions are verified by a network of permissionless, autonomous nodes, and consensus is reached through a unique list of nodes that includes verified nodes that have already been vetted.
consensus model
Ripple built XRPL to have a unique consensus model that combines permissionless validators and vetted nodes. Transactions are finalized using a unique list of nodes where existing nodes are vetted and have reputations for trustworthiness. Therefore, the network has a trust layer and relies on a list mechanism to weed out malicious actors.
3-5 seconds finality
XRPL achieves finality of 3 to 5 seconds based on UNL reliability. By comparison, widely used chains like Arbitrum take up to 17 minutes to finality, while Base takes 18 minutes. L2 chains typically take longer to finalize as they wait to secure the ledger through Ethereum blocks.
Some chains pay for space in these blocks, resulting in less frequent posting and longer time to finalization. Other chains use soft and hard finality to create workarounds, but they also slow down the process. In the case of XRPL, finality relies on the chain's own validators and does not introduce additional delays.
Low fees and secure payments
The combination of XRPL architecture and validators makes the network very low fees. Typical fees are less than $0.00001. This network takes into account the demand from financial institutions who prefer quick final settlement without cancellation.
Some popular chains rely on probabilistic settlement, where finality is achieved through multiple confirmations. XRPL uses deterministic settlement. This means that once a transaction is completed, the state of the transaction cannot be reversed, even hypothetically.
Why XRPL does not rely on miners/validators for block generation
XRPL abandoned mining to create a cheaper, yet secure network. The chain also does not use validators that can distort the incentive ecosystem or have undue influence. Instead, the chain uses nodes that are vetted in a unique node list. XRPL also aims to make the network more predictable, which is not possible when there are overly influential miners and validators.
XRPL Core Design: Payments + Liquidity Layer
XRPL is not only used to settle payments, but also provides liquidity provision. This chain aims not only to provide simple payments, but also to provide specific tasks that closely track traditional financial practices.
XRPL can process simple XRP transfers in addition to cross-currency payments by connecting senders and receivers through orders. Transactions in XRPL can be complex, combining multiple paths and liquidity sources to achieve the desired final balance.
Built-in functions: DEX, IOU, Escrow
The potential for complex transactions means that XRPL includes some features that are only possible as separate apps on other chains. XRPL has a built-in DEX for swaps between various assets. This chain can carry tokenized IOUs between two trading partners. Currently, XRPL vote Regarding the launch of the escrow service.
The XRPL distributed ledger is therefore one of the oldest platforms for embedded blockchain swaps, predating the creation of the first decentralized exchanges with automatic liquidity.
Ethereum Layer 2 Overview — Scaling with Rollups
Ethereum has successfully scaled via L2 chains, where the use of rollups is the most common type of chain. The L2 chain performs some of the computation offline and later records the state of the ledger on Ethereum.
optimistic rollup
Optimistic rollup uses a process that accepts all proposed transactions as valid (optimistic) and relies on proof of fraud. In this case, network participants can challenge the legitimacy of a transaction before it reaches finality. These networks typically have a 7-day challenge window. Transactions are executed instantly, but payments are delayed due to verification, which can cause problems.
zk-rollup
Zero knowledge (ZK rollup) makes different assumptions about the validity of transactions. All transactions are processed completely off-chain, but for each block a zero-knowledge proof is created for the batch of transactions within that block. The ZK-Rollup chain then posts the proof with minimal additional data to the main network.
The ZK-Rollup scaling solution provides more reliable mathematical proofs and can safely achieve faster finality. However, it relies on more computations from the nodes to generate validation proofs after checking transactions.
base
Base is one of the most widely used optimistic rollup networks started by Coinbase. Networks rely on speed, and while transaction processing is fast, finality takes between 13 and 19 minutes. Base's goal is to provide compliant on-chain activities at very low fees. Base is one of the networks that spends the most fees to post the state of a transaction to Ethereum when it reaches finality.
shared theme
All L2 chains enable near-instantaneous transaction processing with no confirmation delays. However, each L2 chooses the intervals at which it posts its ledger state to be included in the Ethereum block. If too many L2s post their status, the posting fee will increase.
There are two ways to post the latest state to Ethereum: calldata or BLOB. Either way, the more L2 decides to post, the more gas is required. In late 2025, Ethereum increased the number of blobs per block from 6 to 10, giving L2 chains more leeway to post ledgers without additional fees.
Ethereum updates have reduced posting fees from hundreds of thousands of dollars per day to thousands of dollars per day, even for regular blob usage, as is the case with Base.
Payment speed comparison
Throughput (TPS)
finality
Why L2 finality ≠ instant?
The L2 chain has two finality layers, one local to the network and the other when the transaction state is posted to Ethereum. Finality can vary by network, up to 7 days for optimistic rollups and 30 minutes to several hours for ZK rollups.
XRPL is different in that it does not require soft consensus or additional finality mechanisms and has true network finality based on node behavior. Finality is deterministic and guaranteed by selected and vetted nodes. Nodes have no incentive to collude or change the ledger.
Architecture differences that affect speed
Each chain has constraints on processing transactions, which can be due to several sources of delay. These include validator consensus, block time, and time to finality. Let's look at the key differences in network architecture that affect overall speed.
XRPL
XRPL is a single-layer distributed ledger with built-in high-speed consensus. There is no delay in settlement time on the XRPL blockchain, at least for simple payments. However, XRPL is not optimized for smart contracts, which can add additional complexity.
Ethereum L2
Ethereum-based L2 introduces a two-layer architecture, where the L2 ledger is finalized in L1 and becomes part of the record of Ethereum blocks. A single transaction still has to go through a validator to be confirmed and wait until it is completed on the Ethereum block.
L2 chains are often initiated from a sequencer, speeding up transaction execution but delaying final processing of disputes. Although validator networks are fair and decentralized, there is a delay when reaching consensus between nodes. These networks are good for apps, but too slow for instant payments.
Payments use case: Who wins?
XRPL is purpose-built for reliable cross-border payments, remittances, and liquidity routing. The chain involves a relatively predictable type of transfer.
L2 can perform many functions, including decentralized finance, NFTs, and token trading. Although L2 is programmable, it tends to grow into large and complex ecosystems.
XRPL requires no trustless coordination and is superior in terms of speed, low cost of whitelisted nodes, and deterministic finality based on approved validators.
Comparison of actual implementation status
Adoption of XRPL
XRPL has achieved multiple partnerships and institutional payment tests. The network has actively sought to drive adoption through partnerships with companies such as Azimo and Tanglo.
This partnership provides access to an on-demand liquidity system (ODL) and creates a pathway for remittances to specific destinations. For example, Azimo uses the ODL payment corridor to process remittances to the Philippines.
XRPL also tested central bank digital currencies. This network is open to the general public and can perform swaps as a DEX.
Adoption of Ethereum L2s
L2 was promoted in part through token airdrops and quickly became popular. Arbitrum, Optimism, Base, and several other networks have taken over 13% of Ethereum-based economic activity, especially low-cost DEX trading.
Different chains had specific use cases such as NFTs, lending, DEX trading, and token transfers. Starknet and zkSync have been added to the mix of L2 and their own set of apps. L2 went through a period of turmoil, but will return as a staple in the crypto space in 2025, handling more traffic and activity.
Key benefits of XRPL
Ripple's XRP Ledger (XRPL) has fast transaction processing times. Deterministic finality means that transactions always take 3-5 seconds, and there is no need to extend the time to guarantee confirmation or agreement.
As a result, XRPL prices are predictably low and there is no network congestion. Since XRPL only transmits transactions, the chain is not affected by sudden traffic from smart contracts.
Ripple’s distributed ledger has been in operation for 10 years, has a proven track record, and has never had an outage. XRPL borrows several features from the foreign exchange market to ensure sufficient liquidity to process payments and transfer value.
XRPL has on-demand liquidity and allows you to transfer value with seamless trading in different currencies. In this way, XRPL mimics traditional foreign exchange exchanges, but with faster on-chain payments.
Main benefits of Ethereum Layer 2
L2's main advantage is the sheer number of developers building on Ethereum, with a total of over 5,300 known authors on the EVM stack. This has given rise to large-scale dApps and decentralized finance ecosystems.
These chains combined incentives, airdrops, community building and revenue opportunities. The flexibility of smart contracts has introduced financial innovation to the ecosystem.
Additionally, all protocols were composable on Ethereum, increasing liquidity, token and stablecoin inflows, and increasing lending and settlement opportunities across the chain. L2 also enables application-specific chaining, also known as L3, with modular tasks on top of the L2 infrastructure.
Challenges facing both networks
XRPL challenges
The possibilities for XRPL to initiate smart contracts are limited. One of the proposed solutions is XRPL hookThis allows you to enter a set of instructions before setting up a transaction on the main ledger. This means that smart contract logic and processing occurs off-chain.
Established networks are also competing with XRPL for payments. Solana will become the stablecoin leader and Stellar will compete directly with XRPL on the open source ledger.
There is also a lack of liquidity as XRPL plans to use XRP tokens and liquidity from institutions to make payments. However, due to lack of user deposits and decentralized finance market, XRPL fell behind the DeFi boom.
L2 challenge
L2 chains must make trade-offs between scalability and speed. With over 100 chains, some are struggling to decentralize and remove sequencer servers.
Although there are tools to bypass sequencers, most L2 chains still pass through the central approval status of a distributed ledger. Finality also depends on posting the latest state of Ethereum blocks and ledgers.
Another problem with L2 is its vast ecosystem, which is complex and confusing, requiring complex bridging and additional fees. This fragments liquidity and leaves some L2s short of funds, while others remain central hubs for trading and DeFi.
Which network will lead in payment speed by 2026?
XRPL continues to be a fast platform for trading with confirmed deterministic and near-instantaneous settlement. ZK rollups can shorten payments to minutes and close the gap. L2 speed remains optimal for smart contract execution, but delayed finality is preserved and remains dependent on Ethereum blocks.
For some tasks, a hybrid model that combines XRPL transactions and sidechains may emerge. L2 may also add new tools for calculations and rapid validation.
Chain and platform prioritization takes into account specific communities and required tasks.
