Untangling the XRP Ledger: Insights and Analysis

Over the last few years, the interest in blockchain platforms has fostered the implementation of a number of distributed ledger-based solutions for the exchange of information, assets and digitized goods in both the private and the public sectors. While proposing promising alternatives to the original Bitcoin protocol is an important goal that the bulk of the effort in blockchain community has been focused on, it may not be enough. A major challenge faced by blockchain systems goes beyond the ability to superficially explore their attack surface, and firstly must consider the importance of studying the functioning of their underlying consensus protocols also in the form of non-functional properties such as security and safety. It is to this extent that recent research has started to rigorously analyze the Bitcoin protocol and its close variants, whilst BFT-like systems have not received equal attention so far. In this paper, we focus on the XRP Ledger with the aim to lay down the first steps towards the complete formalization of its unique consensus mechanism. We provide a thorough description of its different phases and present an analysis of some of its properties, which will be suitable as a basis for future research in the same vein.