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What carries over and what does not

3 minDifficulty Checked 2026-11-10
Key takeaways
  • Only the asset carries over. Accounts, wallets, rules and validators are separate.
  • A contract bug on the sidechain is not an XRP Ledger bug, and the reverse.
  • Three programmability paths exist: the EVM sidechain, Hooks on Xahau and the Smart Escrows draft.

People often ask if the XRP Ledger "has smart contracts now." The honest answer has three parts, and each part is a different place.

  • The EVM sidechain. Ethereum-style contracts on a separate chain that uses XRP for fees.
  • Xahau. Another separate network, where small programs called Hooks attach to accounts.
  • Smart Escrows. A draft for the XRP Ledger itself. Not live, and not in voting.

So today, custom code runs beside the XRP Ledger, not on it.

When you step onto the sidechain, one thing comes with you: XRP. The rest stays behind.

  • Your account stays behind. You use a different kind of address and a different wallet.
  • The rules stay behind. Reserves, trust lines and destination tags are XRP Ledger rules. The sidechain has its own.
  • The validators stay behind. A different group confirms sidechain blocks.
  • The track record stays behind. A contract is only as safe as its code. The XRP Ledger's history says nothing about a contract someone deployed last week.

The separation also protects you. A failed contract on the sidechain cannot reach into an XRP Ledger account. Only funds that crossed the bridge are exposed to what happens there.

TermsXRPL EVM sidechainSidechainUNLValidatorAmendmentHooksXahauSmart EscrowBlock explorer
Check yourself3 questions
1. A lending contract on the XRPL EVM is exploited. What happens to XRP held on the XRP Ledger?
2. Which of these runs on the XRP Ledger Mainnet today?
3. Where do you look up a sidechain transaction?
Sources
Next moduleXChainBridgeP4 · 12 min