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The Ripple community may witness turbulence in the days ahead, not just in its price performance but also in its ecosystem stability. Wietse Wind, the director of XRPL Labs, gave this indication in a strongly worded message to Ripple, which has shaken the XRP Ledger community.

XRPL Labs’ vision for Hooks, and Ripple’s inconsistency

Wietse’s criticism comes following a recently published stance by Ripple that detailed plans to bring smart contracts directly to the XRPL mainnet. 

In its open letter to the XRP Ledger ecosystem and stakeholders, Wietse voiced concerns over Ripple’s recent shift toward layer-1 smart contracts. He considers the pivot shocking and poorly communicated to the team of developers working tirelessly on different projects.

According to Wind, this pivot mirrors a vision that the XRPL Labs championed four years ago, when it introduced "Hooks," a smart contract solution tailored specifically to XRPL. However, the team of developers got little or no support from Ripple even when Hooks proved crucial for the Xahau Sidechain Network.

The XRPL Labs developer considers Ripple’s new commitment to layer-1 smart contracts frustrating to XRP Ledger innovators, given their earlier lack of support for Hooks.

Furthermore, just three months ago, David Schwartz, Ripple’s CTO, stated that the XRP Ledger mainnet was a "fixed function ledger" and belonged to other networks. Wietse considers this new position of advocating for native smart contracts an inconsistency that does not bode well for the ecosystem.

Crossroads for Ripple and XRP Ledger Ecosystem

Notably, Wietse maintained that Ripple's failure to communicate with the architects of the original implementation directly signaled a lack of commitment to community collaboration. In the open letter, he offers Ripple one of two options: to embrace and support the existing Hooks technology and scale it or risk alienating the dedicated team of developers.

"We've demonstrated our commitment time and again. Now, it's Ripple's turn to show its dedication to the community that has long supported and advanced the XRP Ledger. The ball is firmly in Ripple’s court," he stated.