Ripple Engages Sherlock for $550K XRP Ledger Protocol Review

Multi-feature engagement signals a broader shift in how Web3 infrastructure teams are approaching security

Ripple has engaged Sherlock, a Web3 security company whose platform has been adopted by protocols including Morpho, Sky, and Optimism, to lead a $550,000 protocol-level review of seven upcoming XRP Ledger amendments. The two-week engagement opened April 13 and runs through April 27.

It is Sherlock’s first collaboration with Ripple and one of the largest coordinated security reviews ever conducted on a non-EVM network.

The engagement also reflects a shift underway across Web3 infrastructure. The industry standard for years was a single pre-launch audit followed by a bug bounty, a model that left most ongoing security work to the protocol teams themselves. Many of the largest exploits in recent cycles originated in code that was either out of scope for the original audit, introduced after it was complete, or present at the seams between components reviewed in isolation. In response, a growing number of infrastructure-grade teams have moved toward what Sherlock describes as complete lifecycle security: treating safety as a continuous process that spans development, launch, and live operations rather than a single checkpoint. The XRPL engagement is a full expression of that model, with the public contest representing only the adversarial-review phase.

From Morpho Vaults to XRPL

Sherlock’s recent work spans some of the most consequential protocol launches in Web3. The Morpho Vaults v2 engagement delivered full lifecycle coverage across private audit, contest, and ongoing security on one of DeFi’s largest credit primitives. The company continues to provide active security services for Sky (formerly MakerDAO), Optimism, Cosmos, and other infrastructure-grade protocols, with additional coverage available for highest-stakes engagements through the Blackthorn tier.

The XRPL engagement applies a similar model at protocol level, across a non-EVM architecture, with a payout structure designed for multi-feature releases.

The Feature-Unlock Payout Structure

Standard competitive audits distribute a flat pool across all valid findings. That design tends to concentrate researcher attention in the single highest-risk corner of the codebase. Sherlock built this contest differently.

Each of the five covered feature areas independently unlocks a portion of the reward pool based on the highest-severity finding within it. A Low unlocks $8,000. A Medium unlocks $20,000. A High unlocks $50,000. A Critical unlocks $110,000. The total unlocked pot is then redistributed across every valid finding using severity weights. The structure is designed for releases where the most serious issues often live at the seams between features rather than inside any single component.

Scope of the Review

The engagement covers seven amendments grouped into five feature areas: Batch Transactions, Permission Delegation, Permissioned DEXes, Multi-Purpose Tokens, Confidential Transfers, Sponsored Fees, and Reserves. Together they touch transaction execution, delegated authority, market access controls, token infrastructure, and new privacy functionality.

About XRP Ledger

XRP Ledger is a decentralized, open-source blockchain built on a federated consensus model that settles transactions in three to five seconds with minimal energy overhead. Since launching in 2012, the network has grown to support native tokenization, a built-in decentralized exchange, and programmable finance primitives without relying on a virtual machine layer. That architecture makes XRPL structurally distinct from EVM-based chains. The network is maintained by a global set of independent validators, and Ripple is one of the primary contributors to the XRPL codebase and broader ecosystem.

About Sherlock

Sherlock is a complete lifecycle security provider for Web3 protocols. The company connects development-time analysis, private audits, competitive contests, and post-launch coverage into a single security system where each phase informs the next. Sherlock has worked with teams including Morpho, Sky (formerly MakerDAO), Optimism, Cosmos, Aave, and the Ethereum Foundation.

Media Contact

• Alec Novella, Head of Marketing, Sherlock
• [email protected]

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