XRP Ledger onchain transactions drop 65.6% in Q2 2024

The volume of transactions on the XRP Ledger (XRPL) fell significantly from Q1 to Q2 of 2024 amid the average transaction cost surging, according to Ripple’s Q2 2024 XRP Markets Report.

The XRPL onchain transaction activity declined by 65.6% during Q2 of 2024, with approximately 86.38 million recorded, compared to 251.39 million in Q1 of 2023, the report published on August 2 by the XRP issuer highlighted.

“Activity across most major protocols decreased in Q2. XRPL was no exception with on-chain activities noticeably lower in Q2 as compared to Q1,” Ripple stated.

The decline in transaction activity came as the cost per transaction surged 168% during the quarter to 0.00394 XRP (XRP) per transaction. Ripple explained that this cost increases with network load, to protect the peer-to-peer network from spam.

The rise in transaction costs and drop in transaction activity is a reversal from the previous quarter's results, when the number of transactions more than doubled (108%) from Q4 2023 to Q1 2024, and the average transaction cost was nearly halved (45%).

Despite the decrease in transactional activity, Ripple expects that digital asset exchange Archax will bring "hundreds of millions of dollars" worth of tokenized Real-World Assets (RWA) onto the XRPL in the coming year.

Meanwhile, it further reiterated its plan to launch a stablecoin at some point during 2024, Ripple USD, which will be backed by US dollar deposits, short-term US government treasuries, and other cash equivalents.

The report's release comes after it was announced that OpenEden, a tokenization platform, has launched tokenized United States Treasury bills (T-bills) on the XRPL.

On August 1, Cointelegraph reported that the platform’s TBILL tokens are backed by short-term US government T-bills and reverse repurchase agreements collateralized by US Treasurys.

Minters of the tokens will be subject to Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) screening to ensure security and regulatory compliance measures are maintained.