XRP Ledger Fix Delayed to November as Validator Support Dips
XRP Ledger bug fix moved to November after validator support dipped for two hours
A planned XRP Ledger (XRPL) bug fix will now activate in early November after a brief drop in validator support reset the network’s required approval countdown less than two days before the change was set to go live.
The amendment, known as fixCleanup3_4_0, had been on track to activate on Oct. 23. But at a routine checkpoint on Wednesday, support slipped to 26 of 35 trusted validators for roughly two hours—below the threshold needed to keep the activation timer running.
On XRPL, validators are independent servers that agree on which transactions are valid. For changes to the protocol rules to activate automatically, more than 80% of the network’s default trusted validator set must continuously support an amendment. With 35 trusted validators, that threshold is 29.
That support is evaluated about every 15 minutes and must hold without interruption for 14 consecutive days. If support falls below the threshold at any check, even briefly, the countdown resets. In this case, the fix had been running with no cushion—sitting at exactly 29 votes earlier in the week—so the two-hour dip was enough to restart the process.
By 14:46 UTC, validator support had returned to 29 and the two-week countdown restarted. Tracking tools now show the amendment scheduled to go live at 14:46 UTC on Nov. 4. Support has since risen to 31 of 35 validators.
The bug fix addresses several protocol issues, including closing a token-creation loophole and adjusting certain vault and lending calculations. However, the broader lending-related system referenced alongside the fix has not yet reached the validator support needed to start its own activation countdown.
The delay reflects XRPL’s governance process rather than a rejection of the change. The mechanism is designed to ensure protocol upgrades only activate after sustained, broad agreement among the validators responsible for securing the ledger.
