The testnet for XRP Ledger’s (XRPL) Ethereum-compatible sidechain is rapidly gaining traction.

At the ongoing APEX 2025 conference in Singapore, Jaazi Cooper, Ripple’s director of product management, and David Schwartz, Ripple’s CTO, announced that the decentralized Layer 1 blockchain’s EVM-compatible sidechain is scheduled to launch on mainnet in the second quarter.

EVM compatibility enables the blockchain to seamlessly run Ethereum-based decentralized applications and smart contracts.

Since its early-year debut, the XRPL EVM sidechain testnet has seen swift growth, with Peersyst Technologies reporting a surge in ecosystem participation.

According to Peersyst, “87 new entities—with no prior involvement in XRP—are now actively contributing to infrastructure, apps, and demand generation.” They added, “Once the mainnet launches, this entire community will integrate into the XRP ecosystem, marking possibly the largest onboarding event in XRPL history.”

This new EVM sidechain will also unlock opportunities for users to earn yield through DeFi applications like liquidity pools and smart contract interactions, expanding XRPL’s utility and reach.