Ripple’s ‘Ethereum-style’ roadmap: Smart contracts, lending & legal clarity

• Ripple’s rolling out main upgrades, mirroring strikes that after fueled Ethereum’s breakout.
• If the market backed ETH then, might XRP be subsequent?

Ripple’s [XRP] Q2 has been tough. Whereas capital flowed into high-beta performs, XRP lagged exhausting, shedding almost 30% in opposition to Ethereum [ETH] after clocking a stellar 100%+ run in Q1. 

However that shift wasn’t random. It was pushed by technique.

You see, Ethereum devs executed a well-timed comeback with the Pectra improve in early Might, which helped gas a 40% rally, snapping ETH out of its post-November stoop.

Now, Ripple appears to be drawing from that very same blueprint. The one query is, will the market reward XRPL’s roadmap the identical method it did Ethereum’s?

Ripple’s doubling down on XRPL’s future

Ripple is making daring strikes to improve the XRP Ledger. 

Earlier this yr, Ripple purchased Hidden Street, a widely known prime dealer, for $1.25 billion. Prime brokers assist giant buyers by providing providers like commerce execution.

With this deal, Ripple is giving establishments higher instruments to commerce capital utilizing XRP.

However that’s simply the beginning. Ripple can also be planning to launch a brand new lending protocol in Q3 2025. It’s additionally including extra programmability, bringing good contract options that would let builders construct apps like they do on Ethereum.

Put collectively, this roadmap is clearly concentrating on institutional readiness.

With ETF hypothesis heating up and Ripple formally withdrawing its cross-appeal within the SEC case, the timing between authorized readability and technical growth couldn’t be higher.

Supply: X

The market’s early response displays that shift. At press time, XRP broke out above $2.15, rallying 5%, whereas Open Curiosity (OI) climbed 3%, indicating speculative liquidity is re-entering derivatives markets. 

However the catch is, none of this sticks with out actual institutional buy-in. The XRPL roadmap mirrors Ethereum’s playbook post-upgrade. However to generate related re-pricing, institutional capital should observe. 

The tech is there, however is Wall Avenue watching?

The XRP/ETH ratio affords a transparent lens into capital rotation dynamics. 

From the thirteenth of November, the ratio exploded 550% over 5 months, intently monitoring XRP’s 217% rally off its $0.70 base, topping out close to $3.40 in mid-January.

What’s notable is how the ratio held agency regardless of XRP shedding 35% from its peak.

Whereas Ethereum sank to a multi-year low of $1,440, the ratio stayed resilient deep into Q2, signaling that rotational flows favored XRP by a lot of the drawdown.

Supply: TradingView (XRP/ETH)

However by late Q2, the tide turned. The ratio collapsed almost 40%, bottoming at 0.0008, marking a pointy divergence. The catalyst? Ethereum’s Pectra improve.

Deployed in early Might, Pectra helped ETH break by the $2,000 ceiling, igniting a wave of renewed inflows. Stablecoin velocity spiked, BlackRock kicked off accumulation, and annualized charges crossed $7.3 billion.

Extra importantly, with the Glamsterdam improve slated for late 2026, ETH regained narrative dominance. Now, Ripple’s pivot towards “Ethereum-style” upgrades seems much more strategic than coincidental.

However will the market reply the identical method? That’s the inflection level. With out institutional follow-through, the XRP/ETH ratio might chart even decrease.