The XRP Ledger activated its PermissionDelegationV1_1 amendment on October 8 at ledger index 107,524,865, introducing role-based account controls aimed at banks, stablecoin issuers and tokenized funds. The feature had previously lost validator support in September, resetting the required two-week confirmation window; under the network’s rules, amendments need more than 80% support from the 35 active validators, or at least 29 votes, before going live.
Once active, an account owner can delegate up to 10 specific permissions to another account without sharing the master private key. For example, a stablecoin issuer could keep its primary key in cold custody, authorize a compliance account to approve trust lines after KYC checks, and allow an operations account to submit approved payment transactions. Delegates sign with their own credentials and pay their own fees, but cannot change cryptographic keys, create further delegations, or exceed their assigned permissions. Each delegation also creates an on-ledger object that counts toward the primary account’s reserve requirement.
Ripple’s stablecoin product lead, Lauren Berta, said the design mirrors how institutions already separate compliance, treasury and legal duties. However, the update does not automate compliance decisions; KYC, sanctions screening and legal responsibility remain with the issuer. The documentation also warns against delegating the PaymentBurn permission until a separate fix, fixCleanup3_4_0, is activated, because it could allow a delegate to mint fungible tokens in certain circumstances.
The ledger held about $3.72 billion in tokenized assets and $539 million in Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin during the second quarter, totaling roughly $4.26 billion. No bank, stablecoin issuer or fund manager has yet publicly confirmed an implementation, leaving practical adoption dependent on wallet providers and internal security policies.
