A new decentralized exchange project on Solana has sparked a debate about blockchain order book design, with a former Ripple developer pointing to the XRP Ledger’s 15-year-old solution. Matt Hamilton, a former Ripple developer, stated that the XRP Ledger had already solved the problem of front-running and order sequencing that Solana’s Mato project aims to address.
Mato, presented by founder Thomas Gehrmann at the Solana Summit Germany, uses a continuous clearing auction model. Orders stream in parallel over a user-set time window, then clear at a market price that updates as orders enter or leave. The pitch emphasizes fairness by preventing any single party from controlling order sequencing.
Hamilton responded to the announcement on social media, writing: “This problem was solved 15 years ago on the XRP Ledger (the very first DEX in existence). And it seems every blockchain since keeps trying to re-solve it.” He added that while it is positive Solana might now address the issue, the industry keeps reinventing the wheel.
The XRP Ledger launched in 2012 with a native central limit order book DEX that does not rely on automated market makers. It processes trades directly on the ledger, a design that kept exchange functions close to the base protocol. The XRPL DEX has been operating continuously since then, making it one of the oldest decentralized exchanges in the crypto space.
Despite its age, the XRPL’s DeFi capabilities continue to evolve. The XRPL Foundation recently proposed “AMM Swappable Curves” to add StableSwap and concentrated liquidity to the native AMM. Additionally, the community is voting on amendments XLS-65 and XLS-66 to introduce native vaults and fixed-rate lending. Ripple and Bitso have also deployed the MXNB Mexican peso stablecoin on the ledger, integrated with Ripple’s Payments on DEX infrastructure.
The exchange between Hamilton and the Solana DEX project underscores how older blockchain architectures can return to the center of market conversations. While Mato’s continuous auction model differs from XRPL’s order book, the comparison highlights the XRP Ledger’s long-standing role in on-chain trading.
