XRP Ledger has established an official digital presence within the xSPECTAR universe

Ripple’s XRP Ledger has established an official digital presence within the xSPECTAR universe. According to the announcement, the initiative aims to create a virtual space where the XRPL ecosystem can learn, interact, and grow. 

We're excited to join the @xSPECTAR universe and have a digital presence in the metaverse where the XRPL ecosystem learns and grows. https://t.co/XK6P7MzflD

— XRPL Commons (@xrpl_commons) February 16, 2026

The space is intended to function as a dedicated environment for XRPL ecosystem interaction and community development. The move does not introduce any new protocols, products, or financial instruments. It provides a structured virtual venue where developers, users, and partners can access information about XRPL, explore ecosystem projects. 

Blockchain networks find ways to leverage the metaverse

XRPL initiative comes at a time when the metaverse is no longer what it used to be. Despite billions of dollars in investments and years of development, the concept failed to deliver on its ambitious promises. 

Platforms like Meta’s Horizon Workrooms, which were conceptualized as immersive virtual collaboration platforms, failed to attract users. Today, the metaverse is a warning example of how hype has outstripped innovation.

However, there is a trend among blockchain networks to explore immersive settings for specific, functional applications such as NFT showcases, virtual events, and interactive learning. These networks want to avoid the volatility and falling public interest that have plagued mainstream metaverse platforms.

Over 72% of metaverse platforms now support NFT-based assets like avatars, wearables, and land as core in-world items.​ NFT sales in metaverse environments surpassed $42 billion in 2025, with avatar customization assets accounting for 31% of transactions.​

Decentralized identity (DID) and wallet-based NFT IDs are used by around 22 million metaverse users to verify identity and access.​ The virtual land NFT market is projected to grow from $1.1 billion in 2025 to $20.9 billion by 2035 at a 34.5% CAGR.​

Meanwhile, over 80% of Gen Z metaverse users have bought or traded at least one NFT, showing strong youth adoption.​ Gen Z makes up 45% of global metaverse users, and Millennials 34%, forming the primary NFT-owning cohorts.​ Corporate NFT launches, including branded metaverse wearables, now account for 18% of total NFT market share.​

XRPL surpasses Solana in the RWA sector

The XRPL already runs meaningful transaction volume and has native exchange rails. According to on-chain data, average daily transactions rose 3.1% quarter over quarter to about 1.83 million in the fourth quarter of 2025. However, average daily active addresses slipped to about 49,000.

Payment transactions declined 8.1% to roughly 909,000, while offer creation grew to about 42% of the transaction mix. DefiLlama data showed stablecoins circulating on XRPL at roughly $418 million, with RLUSD accounting for about 83% of that total. 

It also showed the XRPL DEX at about $38.21 million in total value locked and about $15.08 million in 24-hour volume, with cumulative volume around $2.019 billion.

The cost of transacting on the network begins at 0.00001 XRP. Such low costs ensure that the process of moving coins, especially RLUSD, is very cheap even when there is heavy trading.

At the same time, XRPL has recently surpassed Solana on a key metric in the real-world asset (RWA) tokenization market, marking a shift in institutional activity within the crypto ecosystem. Without stablecoins, XRPL logged about $1.756 billion in total on-chain real-world assets, compared with roughly $1.682 billion on Solana.

The XRPL’s represented asset value jumped more than 270% in one month, while Solana’s RWA value grew by around 40% over the same period.

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