**XRP Ledger Sees Significant Drop in Transaction Volume Amid Rising Costs**

The XRP Ledger (XRPL) experienced a sharp decline in transaction volume from Q1 to Q2 of 2024, as revealed in Ripple’s latest XRP Markets Report. On-chain activity plummeted by 65.6%, with transactions falling from 251.39 million in Q1 to 86.38 million in Q2.

Ripple attributed this drop to a 168% surge in transaction costs, which reached 0.00394 XRP per transaction. This increase aims to protect the network from spam during high load periods.

Despite the downturn, Ripple remains optimistic. They anticipate that digital asset exchange Archax will introduce "hundreds of millions of dollars" in tokenized Real-World Assets (RWA) to the XRPL next year. Additionally, Ripple plans to launch a stablecoin, Ripple USD, backed by US dollar deposits and short-term US government treasuries.

In related news, OpenEden has launched tokenized US Treasury bills on the XRPL, ensuring security through KYC and AML compliance.