XRP Ledger Under Massive DDOS Attack: Details

The XRP Ledger (XRPL) may have fallen victim to a relentless distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack, marking a tumultuous period for the blockchain.

Magnetic X, a leading DEX project on XRPL, revealed the extent of the assault in a recent tweet. According to the project, XRPL has been under siege since December 26, 2023, with hundreds of accounts orchestrating millions of transactions daily in an attempt to sabotage the network. 

Specifically, Magnetic X noted that the attackers utilize a strategic approach involving numerous wallets sending minuscule amounts (0.000001 XRP) to a specific target wallet.

The wallet, rxRpSNb1VktvzBz8JF2oJC6qaww6RZ7Lw, has been identified as fraudulent by XRP blockchain explorer services such as XRPScap and Bithomp.

XRPL suffered a massive DDOS attack.

Since December 26, 2023, hundreds of accounts have been making millions of transactions per day to stop the network or at least slow it down.

There has never been such a surge in activity in XRPL.

Since December 28, about 5,000,000… pic.twitter.com/wOTeIyAcwc

— Magnetic X (@MagneticXRPL) January 7, 2024

Furthermore, Magnetic X speculated that the continuous transactions could be an internal stress test or that ill-intentioned entities are working to bring down the XRPL network.

Regardless of the motive, the XRPL project lamented the consequences are dire for regular network users and development teams.

Magnetic X, being a leading DEX project on XRPL, has not escaped unscathed. It disclosed that the assault resulted in its applications being incapable of retrieving transaction history and subscribing to network transaction updates.

This predicament unfolded as network nodes became overwhelmed, causing operations to decelerate. However, Magnetic X noted efforts to mitigate the impact have been underway. They include optimizing its code, adjusting node configurations, and securing additional resources.

Concerns About XRPL’s Scalability 

Meanwhile, the XRPL DEX raised a pressing concern about XRPL’s ability to handle increased transaction loads. It pointed out that the network is experiencing issues at 60-70 transactions per second, questioning the widely touted 1500 TPS capacity.

This has also prompted concerns about the fate of public nodes and those with limited capacities.

As reported previously, the surge in XRPL transaction count followed the emergence of fake inscriptions, weighing heavily on the network’s processing power. 

Mayukha Vadari, senior software engineer at RippleX, provided clarification on the recent events. He argued the situation was not a deliberate attack but rather a mere surge in activity due to inscription-focused transactions.

Other members of the community shared this sentiment. For example, X user Guust Flater emphasized that the observed uptick in transactions was a consequence of the open-source nature of XRPL.

Moreover, Guust Flater advocated that the XRPL should be robust enough to handle increased transaction activity. The commenter added that if individuals or entities choose to stress-test the network, they should be allowed to do so.