Hooks Add Smart Contract Functionality To XRP Ledger
Hooks add smart contract functionality to the XRP Ledger: ‘layer one’ custom code to influence the behavior and flow of transactions. Hooks are small, efficient pieces of code being defined on an XRPL account, allowing logic to be executed before and/or after XRPL transactions.
July 30th 2020 we announced our vision on the Hooks Amendment for the XRP Ledger to add business logic support (smart contracts) to the XRP Ledger.
We published blogs, insights, concepts & considerations along the way. We are really proud to present our PUBLIC BETA TESTNET today. pic.twitter.com/3DytxM27DD- XRPL Labs (@XRPLLabs) April 19, 2021
Developers: please test, try, code, build it, break it, and have lots of fun!
Technical documentation: https://t.co/VE0dDYQK7F
Beta Testnet website: https://t.co/xmNGj0DPFu
Technical discussion/questions, bug reporting: https://t.co/EEbsc3RGUl
Quickstart: https://t.co/MDPFTA8jSQ pic.twitter.com/bGShAqF4Cf- XRPL Labs (@XRPLLabs) April 19, 2021
The XRP ledger is known and is being appreciated for its transaction throughput, speed, and low fees. Combined with available advanced transaction types like a multi-sign, escrows, payment channels, and even a decentralized exchange (all on a ledger, out of the box, without requiring smart contracts), the XRPL has a lot to offer businesses and (creative) developers.
Hooks add smart contract functionality to the XRP Ledger: ‘layer one’ custom code to influence the behavior and flow of transactions. Hooks are small, efficient pieces of code being defined on an XRPL account, allowing logic to be executed before and/or after XRPL transactions. These hooks can be really simple, like: “reject payments < 10 XRP”, or “for all outgoing payments, send 10% to my savings account,” or more advanced.
By allowing hooks to not only execute efficient logic but also to store small, simple data objects, one could define a hook like: “for incoming payments transactions, check if the sending account is in a list maintained by another hook, and if present: reject the transaction”.
Hooks are deliberately not Turing-Complete. While often touted as the holy grail of smart contracts, Turing-Completeness is actually inappropriate for smart contracts.
Hooks are currently live on a public testnet. It’s time for testing, coding, having fun & breaking things, so a future amendment to add Hooks to the XRP Ledger livenet can be drafted with confidence, hopefully at the end of 2021.
Originally published at https://thecryptobasic.com on April 20, 2021.
