[DigitalToday reporter Yoonseo Lee] XRP has recovered the $1.40 level, while the XRP Ledger (XRPL) has expanded infrastructure for onchain credit lending.

On Sept. 19, blockchain outlet The Crypto Basic reported that the recently released "XRPL 3.4.0" upgrade added functions needed for lending, tokenised assets and institutional credit markets.

Market attention focused on the fact that a price rebound and network feature expansion are happening at the same time. Clarissa York (클라리사 요크), a partner and KOL manager at crypto marketing firm AgencyRazor, said, "XRP has become an interesting investment again," and cited stablecoins, tokenised assets, lending and liquidity as key areas for expansion.

At the centre of the change is XRPL version 3.4.0, deployed on Sept. 16. The included "LendingProtocolV1_1" amendment expands the existing lending protocol and the single-asset vault structure by introducing closed vaults and cash-based accounting. The XRP Ledger appears to be aiming to move beyond payment-focused uses to accommodate credit provision and asset management functions.

The existing lending structure focused on executing unsecured loans with fixed maturities on XRPL. Depositors put funds into a single-asset vault, and loan brokers pool the funds and make loans under pre-set terms. Screening borrowers and assessing credit risk are done off-chain, but loan execution and management are handled on the ledger.

Participants are divided into loan brokers, depositors and borrowers. Loan brokers create vaults and manage loans, and depositors supply assets to the vaults. Borrowers receive funds and repay under the agreed terms.

One of the main elements of the upgrade is the closed vault. This structure operates in three stages: subscription, investment and repayment. In the subscription stage, assets can be deposited, and in the investment stage, funds are deployed into actual loans while deposits and withdrawals are restricted. When it enters the repayment stage, new lending stops and depositors can withdraw their share of recovered returns. The schedule for switching stages is set when the vault is created and cannot be changed afterward.

Vaults can hold not only XRP but also trustline tokens and multi-purpose tokens (MPT). That means trustline assets such as RLUSD are included in an institutional lending framework. Vaults are split into public and private types, and private vaults can restrict deposits to qualified accounts through XRPL's permissioned domain system.

Accounting treatment also changes. Under the previous model, expected interest could be recognised at the time a loan was made, but the new vaults reflect only interest actually received as revenue. An optional loss-compensation capital mechanism was also introduced to absorb some losses first in the event of default. But this is a device to mitigate losses and does not eliminate credit risk itself.

Still, the price and the technology upgrade are separate. It is true that XRP is trading above $1.40 and that XRPL 3.4.0 added features such as closed lending vaults, but the upgrade itself does not guarantee future demand for XRP or its price trajectory.

What this update clearly shows is that XRPL has expanded the range of functions it can handle at the ledger level for credit lending, joint asset management and finance applications with restricted participation. Attention is focused on whether the centre of gravity in the XRP ecosystem is shifting from payments to the expansion of financial infrastructure.

XRP is getting interesting again. While price is pushing back above $1.40, XRPL just rolled out its latest upgrade with new lending infrastructure designed to bring more credit activity onchain. That's the part I'm watching. More stablecoins, tokenized assets, lending and…