Ripple (XRP) Announces New Collaboration Effort with Axelar, a Programmable Blockchain Interoperability Platform

AXL price surged on Wednesday as Ripple will use Axelar as the exclusive bridge for its XRPL EVM sidechain.

Blockchain interoperability platform Axelar (AXL) saw a price surge on Wednesday as leading enterprise blockchain firm Ripple announced plans to use Axelar as the exclusive bridge for its XRPL EVM sidechain.

According to data from CoinMarketCap, the AXL token price surged from below a key resistance level at $0.76 as Bitcoin and the broader altcoin market reacted to the latest US CPI data. The token’s price reached highs of $0.81, marking a 6% increase at the time of writing.

XRPL EVM sidechain to use Axelar for wrapped XRP (eXRP)

Developers from Ripple announced Axelar’s partnership for the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible XRPL EVM Sidechain at XRPL Apex 2024. The project aims to enhance interoperability and create new opportunities in the decentralized finance (DeFi) and real-world assets (RWAs) markets.

The XRPL EVM Sidechain will leverage Axelar to facilitate the seamless conversion of XRP into wrapped XRP (eXRP). The platform plans to use eXRP as the native asset and for gas fees.

“The XRPL EVM sidechain is set to launch with Axelar as the exclusive bridge to source the native gas token of the sidechain (eXRP) from the XRPL,” explained Ripple in a blog post.

The XRPL platform’s CEO Ferran Prat also commented on the collaboration with Peersyst Technology on the XRPL integration, saying:

“Axelar is a battle-tested, production-ready and fully compatible bridge to bring wrapped XRP (eXRP) as a native currency to the XRPL EVM sidechain. The Peersyst engineering team is now working to migrate the main bridge to Axelar for the devnet.”

Major developments from Ripple ahead of Q1 2024 XRP price movements

The latest development comes among a series of notable moves by Ripple over the past few days.

Earlier this week, the US-based blockchain company confirmed its plans to launch a dollar-pegged stablecoin. The firm also announced a groundbreaking collaboration with the central bank of Georgia and, as reported, unveiled a massive ecosystem fund for blockchain innovation in Japan and Korea.

Despite these and previous partnerships and developments, the XRP token has not seen a significant rally in price movements. However, analysts remain bullish, expecting that regulatory clarity could mark a turning point for the top 10 cryptocurrency by market capitalization.

XRP is currently trading at $0.49, with a 6% gain on the day and a 1% loss over the past week.