Ripple has introduced a confidential token transfer design for XRPL, centered on “Confidential Transfers for Multi-Purpose Tokens,” or Confidential MPTs. The proposal comes from research by Murat Cenk, Aanchal Malhotra, and Joseph Ayo Akinyele, and is built on the XLS-33 token standard, which became active on the XRP Ledger mainnet in October 2025.
Encrypted balances replace plaintext records
According to the paper, Confidential MPTs use EC-ElGamal encryption to secure per-account balances instead of storing them in plaintext form. The model also relies on non-interactive zero-knowledge proofs, allowing validators to confirm that a transaction is valid and that an account holds enough balance without seeing the underlying amounts. In practice, the transfer amount and account balance can remain hidden while the network still verifies the transaction.
The privacy model does not cover every piece of on-chain data. The research states that sender and recipient addresses will remain visible on-chain. That choice preserves the XRP Ledger’s account-based structure and keeps transaction metadata available where regulators may require access. The paper’s abstract says the design provides cryptographic auditability through an on-chain selective-disclosure model based on multi-ciphertext balance representations and equality proofs, while also staying compatible with simpler issuer-mediated audit models.
Privacy and compliance are built into the same framework
The release of the research comes as regulatory views on privacy tools continue to shift. The source notes that, earlier in March, a US Treasury Department report to Congress acknowledged that law-abiding users may at times need privacy tools such as mixers when transacting on public blockchains. That language has been viewed as a sign that privacy and compliance are being considered together rather than as opposing goals.
Aanchal Malhotra, one of the paper’s authors and now Ripple’s Director of Research, said the approach is meant to deliver regulatory transparency where required while protecting user privacy where possible. In a statement issued after publication, she said the project is designed to provide “regulatory visibility where it matters, user privacy where it should.”
Part of Ripple’s broader XRPL upgrade path
The privacy paper also aligns with Ripple’s wider push to strengthen XRPL. The source says Ripple recently outlined plans for AI-driven security enhancements for the ledger, aimed at addressing changing threats and reinforcing the network’s foundation for institutional adoption. Taken together with the confidential token proposal, the effort shows Ripple advancing privacy, auditability, and security in parallel on XRPL.