XRP Ledger lets institutions share account duties without sharing their keys

The XRP Ledger (XRPL) now lets institutions delegate account tasks while retaining control of their primary signing keys.

The PermissionDelegationV1_1 amendment went live on Oct. 8 at ledger 107,524,865. It lets account owners assign specific transaction permissions to other accounts.

The upgrade mirrors the division of responsibilities in traditional finance. Treasury departments, compliance officers and asset managers can operate under different levels of authority.

For example, a stablecoin issuer can let its compliance team approve counterparties while a separate account executes payments. Owners can modify or revoke delegated permissions without exposing their primary signing keys during routine operations.

Vet, an XRP Ledger Foundation contributor, said the change lets asset issuers and treasuries manage account responsibilities in a way familiar from traditional finance while protecting their primary keys.

The framework does not support custom spending limits or asset-specific delegation restrictions. XRPL developers also warn against delegating PaymentBurn until fixCleanup3_4_0 activates. A flaw can let authorized accounts mint issued tokens in certain circumstances.

The controls arrive as XRPL's real-world asset market grows.

An Oct. 7 RWA Foundation snapshot puts XRPL's year-to-date growth in tokenized asset value at about $3.7 billion, excluding stablecoins. It leads BNB Chain's $3.5 billion, Stellar's $2.8 billion and Solana's $2.2 billion.

The four networks account for roughly $12.2 billion of the $14.9 billion recorded across the chart's 10 blockchains, highlighting competition for tokenization activity.

The figures track changes in tokenized asset value, including issuance, redemptions and valuations.