An XRP Ledger bug fix has been delayed until Nov. 4 after validator backing briefly slipped below the network’s approval threshold, wiping out a nearly completed 14-day activation countdown.
The amendment, called fixCleanup3_4_0, had been on track to go live at 09:34 UTC on Oct. 23. That changed when support fell to 26 of the 35 default trusted validators at a checkpoint at 12:54 UTC on Wednesday, according to XRPL Dashboard.
Support drop reset the clock
On the XRP Ledger, rule changes need backing from more than 80% of the 35 validators the network trusts by default. That means at least 29 votes. Validators are independent servers that agree on which transactions count.
The network checks that support roughly every 15 minutes, and the threshold has to hold at every check for 14 straight days. A single miss resets the countdown, even if the drop lasts only briefly.
That is what happened here. The fix was sitting at exactly 29 votes on Monday, leaving no margin for error. After support dropped on Wednesday, the countdown was reset. By 14:46 UTC, the vote count had returned to 29, starting a fresh 14-day period.
XRPLWin now lists the amendment as going live at 14:46 UTC on Nov. 4. Support has since risen to 31 of 35 validators, giving the proposal two votes of cushion this time, compared with none during the first run.
What the patch changes
According to the xrpld 3.4.0 release notes, the patch closes a loophole that could, under certain conditions, allow an account that was only supposed to burn an issuer’s tokens to create new ones instead.
It also changes how vault and lending code determines when a loan is late or in default.
That code is part of the lending system Ripple has pitched to banks and payment companies since June. In that setup, lenders place XRP or other tokens into vaults and a broker lends them out for a fixed term. As of Thursday, the broader lending system was still not live.
Broader lending system still lacks support
While the bug fix has regained enough backing to restart its activation process, the larger lending system has not secured enough validator support to begin its own countdown.
Neither of the XRPL tracking sites cited in the report shows which validators dropped off during the two-hour dip. The report noted that only votes from validators the network actually hears from at each check are counted. A server that is offline or restarting at the wrong moment is treated the same as a no vote.