Ripple CTO Believes Xahau is a Good Avenue to Test Hooks Amid Recent Launch

Amid the recent Xahau launch, Ripple CTO David Schwartz believes the XRPL-based sidechain is a good avenue to test the feasibility of smart contracts introduced by the Hooks amendment.

Notably, the XRP Ledger (XRPL) ecosystem has recently welcomed a new member: Xahau, a sidechain that implements smart contracts functionality through the Hooks amendment. 

Xahau was introduced by XRPL Labs, the team behind the popular self-custodial Xumm wallet. XRPL Labs launched Xahau as an autonomous layer-1 network that seamlessly coexists with the XRPL. One of its standout attributes lies in its incorporation of Hooks.

Hooks is an amendment that has been in development for the past two years by XRPL Labs and other contributors. It allows users to create small scripts that run during transactions, opening the door to valuable functions like fee voting and escrow management.

However, the Hooks amendment has not been activated on the mainnet yet, as it requires 80% support from the validators for two weeks.

One of the reasons Hooks has not gained enough support is the concern over its potential impact on the performance and security of the XRPL. Ripple has expressed its reservations about introducing smart contracts on the mainnet without proper testing and evaluation.

Ripple CTO Comments on Xahau

Ripple’s CTO, David Schwartz, one of the original architects of the XRPL, recently shared his personal opinion on the matter in a post on X. Schwartz believes Xahau is an excellent avenue to test Hooks with real money on a sidechain and prove that it won’t ruin performance with time.

Schwartz’s comments came in response to questions and criticisms from XRP community members, who wondered why Ripple was not more supportive of Hooks and whether they could veto it. According to Schwartz, Hooks is still in progress, and it could be successful.

For those who think Ripple wasn't supportive enough, hooks is still 100% on track and there's no reason to think it won't be successful. I think it's the opposite that would be a failure of decentralization, no? 2/2

— David "JoelKatz" Schwartz (@JoelKatz) November 1, 2023

When asked about his sentiments towards Xahau, the Ripple CTO confirmed his approval of the sidechain. Moreover, he also stressed that he doesn’t think validators are voting out of politics right now and that he supports Xahau as the best path forward for Hooks.

I don't think validators are voting out of politics right now. That would be such a counterproductive thing to do I just can't see it.

I think Xahau made very good decisions and I can't think of any better path forward for hooks. Unless you think hooks should die (and I…

— David "JoelKatz" Schwartz (@JoelKatz) November 1, 2023

Schwartz clarified that his opinion was not an official statement from Ripple and that he got his position primarily from the Hooks developers. He stressed that he doesn’t think Hooks should die and that he hopes it will be successful.

Xahau is one of the first projects to utilize Ripple’s sidechain proposal, which Schwartz announced in June 2021. The proposal allows developers to craft their own networks closely connected to XRPL, taking advantage of its fast settlements, cost-effectiveness, and impressive scalability.

By creating a sidechain for smart contracts, Xahau hopes to expand the use cases and innovation possibilities for the XRPL ecosystem. Market participants looking to leverage the features of Xahau would need to burn their XRP tokens to mint XAH, the chain’s native token.