This month wrapped the second annual Apex: the XRPL Developer Summit. In partnership with the XRP Ledger Foundation, Ripple welcomed nearly 300 developers, validators and community members in-person in Las Vegas.
Over the course of three days, roughly 50 speakers presented on topics ranging from CBDCs, DeFi, interoperability, NFTs, core XRP Ledger (XRPL) infrastructure and so much more.
The event also featured onstage announcements from Stynger and onXRP, which partnered to launch a music integration in the upcoming free-to-play battle royale running game Maladroids—the first game to be hosted on the XRP Ledger. In addition, RippleX unveiled the finalists of its CBDC Innovate hackathon, while programs such as XRPL Bounties and the XRPL Zone were also introduced at Apex 2022.
Here’s a recap of highlights from the event in case you missed it!
Keynote Speaker Highlights
Apex 2022 featured keynotes from seven leading voices from the XRP Ledger community for which more than 1.6K viewers tuned in for the virtual livestream globally.
Taking the stage this year was none other than David Schwartz, Ripple CTO and co-creator of the XRP Ledger, where he dove into the history and future of the XRPL—including upcoming proposed features like XLS-20 and Automated Market Maker functionality. NFT artist Ragzy also joined David for a fireside chat on why she chose to mint a series on the XRP Ledger and the benefits of XLS-20 for creators.
Apex attendees also enjoyed a talk from Scott Branson and Thomas Silkjaer of the XRP Ledger Foundation, who looked back on the year in review of the XRP Ledger Foundation and teased its roadmap. Developers and XRPL community members can look forward to the launch of an XRPL Training Center, phase 2 of the Foundation’s Token Assessment Framework, new energy supply research and so much more in 2022-2023.
Julian Vergel de Dios, CTO of Heirloom, took the stage to discuss how his company is building tools for enterprises to easily enter Web 3, utilizing the XRPL. In a dynamic discussion, Julian also express his excitement about XLS-20 and the importance and potential of Self Sovereign Identity in a Web 3 future.
While that’s just some of the many keynotes at Apex 2022, the summit featured two breakout sessions over two days that saw a more than 200% increase in attendance from 2021.
XRPL Zone
Co-sponsored by XUMM and Moonpay, the inaugural XRPL Zone attracted nearly 60 developers for exclusive Q&As, workshops, collaboration and networking opportunities. Created to serve as the premier physical space for XRPL developers and community members to collaborate, learn and accelerate their building potential, the XRPL Zone featured collaborative workstations, a presentation area for technical programming and more.
Key programming highlights of the XRPL Zone included:
An exclusive Q&A with David Schwartz
A sidechains Workshop with Mayukha Vadari, RippleX engineer
Developer Office Hours with representatives from Moonpay
A live NFT Workshop with xrp.cafe
A deep dive into Hooks featuring Richard Holland, XRPL Labs
During the final pitch competition of the XRPL Zone, 11 different XRPL project pitches and proposals were showcased, with eight projects demoed with working and reviewable code. A crucial bug in the XLS-20 code was even discovered during an XRPL Zone session—supporting its goal of uniting and empowering developers on the XRPL.
From the Discord Community
Day 1 and day 2 keynotes were live-streamed for real-time interaction among the global XRPL community who couldn’t attend Apex in person. The Apex Keynotes and Apex In-Person channels were lively with discussions about topics ranging from NFTs, session highlights and core XRPL developments—particularly on day 1.
Entire session recaps will be released in the coming weeks on YouTube.
Apex: XRPL Developer Summit is an annual gathering of developers, contributors and thought leaders in crypto to learn, build, share, network and celebrate all things XRP Ledger. Follow @RippleXDev on Twitter or join the XRPL Developers Discord for updates on Apex 2023!
