Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by our writers are their own and do not represent the views of U.Today. The financial and market information provided on U.Today is intended for informational purposes only. U.Today is not liable for any financial losses incurred while trading cryptocurrencies. Conduct your own research by contacting financial experts before making any investment decisions. We believe that all content is accurate as of the date of publication, but certain offers mentioned may no longer be available.

The LendingProtocolV1_1 amendment on the XRP Ledger (XRPL) has collected 22 of 35 votes (62.86%).

Three more validators have signed on over the past three weeks. Ripple's own nodes have already voted yes, along with the University of Waterloo and UC Berkeley.

To go live, the amendment has to clear the 80% bar (29 votes) and hold it for two straight weeks.

The related SingleAssetVault amendment (XLS-65) has 23 votes (65.7%) and needs six more.

The XLS-65 and XLS-66 standards drop overcollateralization and instant liquidations and let companies take out fixed-term, uncollateralized loans directly on XRPL. The loans work similarly to traditional bank credit, with a fixed term and pre-set interest terms.

Ripple has already tested the protocol on a private XRPL network with nine nodes that matched the hardware of its mainnet nodes.

Holders deposit XRP or stablecoins such as RLUSD into Single Asset Vaults and receive shares. Interest is paid on a cash basis. Depositors receive it only after the borrower has sent the money. Withdrawals from a vault are processed on a first-come, first-served basis.

Borrowers are vetted off-chain by Loan Brokers, who record each disbursement on the ledger. According to the XRPL documentation, the protocol "relies on off-chain underwriting and risk management to assess the creditworthiness of borrowers."

The broker's own "first-loss capital" covers losses first when a client stops paying.

Issuers can also freeze assets or claw them back. According to Ripple, all operations in a vault and in the connected lending protocol stop when an asset issuer freezes the vault.

XRP holders get a new way to earn interest

Until now, XRP holders who wanted passive income had to use third-party bridges and wrapped tokens. After the amendment activates, holders can deposit XRP in a pool on XRPL, with its fraction-of-a-cent fees, and collect part of the interest paid by borrowers. Their income will depend on the terms set by the loan broker and on borrowers' repayments.

If a major borrower defaults and the broker's first-loss capital runs out, depositors bear the losses and their shares drop in value.