Sherlock and Ripple Launch $550K Security Audit Contest to Secure Upcoming Features on the XRP Ledger

First collaboration between Sherlock and Ripple covers five pillars of upcoming XRPL functionality using a novel feature-unlock payout structure

NEW YORK, April 14, 2026 - Sherlock, a leading Web3 audit provider offering lifecycle security for protocols including Aave, the Ethereum Foundation, and Optimism, today announced a collaboration with Ripple to conduct a security audit contest covering upcoming features on the XRPL roadmap. The two-week contest opens April 13, 2026 with a reward pool of $550,000.

The engagement marks the first collaboration between Sherlock and Ripple. The scope covers five pillars of upcoming XRPL functionality, making it one of the most substantial audit contests to launch this year. It also sends a signal: even in a prolonged bear market, the teams building core blockchain infrastructure are still shipping and still investing in security at scale.

Contest Scope

The contest covers upcoming features spanning five areas on the XRP Ledger, touching transaction execution, delegated authority, market access controls, token infrastructure, and new privacy functionality. Rather than reviewing individual amendments in isolation, the contest opens the entire release surface to Sherlock’s full researcher community simultaneously.

XRPL is one of the longest-running blockchain networks in production. The breadth of the features under review makes this one of the most substantial web3 audit engagements on a non-EVM network to date.

Feature-Unlock Payout Structure

Unlike standard audit contests that distribute from a flat prize pool, Sherlock is deploying a feature-based unlock model. The reward pool is not a fixed payout. It unlocks feature by feature based on the highest valid severity found in each of the five covered areas:

Low severity: $8,000 per feature

Medium severity: $20,000 per feature

High severity: $50,000 per feature

Critical severity: $110,000 per feature

Only the highest valid severity per feature counts toward the unlock. After the total pool is determined, payouts are redistributed across all valid findings using severity weights, creating an incentive structure that rewards both the severity of individual findings and broad coverage across the entire release surface.

About XRP Ledger

XRP Ledger is a decentralized, open-source blockchain built on a federated consensus model that settles transactions in three to five seconds with minimal energy overhead. Since launching in 2012, the network has grown to support native tokenization, a built-in decentralized exchange, and programmable finance primitives without relying on a virtual machine layer. That architecture makes XRPL structurally different from EVM-based chains and is part of why auditing its protocol requires a distinct approach. The network is maintained by a global set of independent validators, and Ripple is one of the primary contributors to the XRPL codebase and broader ecosystem.

About Sherlock

Sherlock is the complete lifecycle security partner for Web3 protocols, connecting security from development through launch and live operations. Its stack includes development-time AI analysis, collaborative private audits staffed from a performance-ranked researcher network, Blackthorn for high-stakes engagements, open audit contests that bring broad adversarial review, and post-launch bug bounties plus coverage. Sherlock has quickly become one of the most sought-after security platforms in Web3, earning the trust of teams like the Ethereum Foundation, Aave, Optimism, Sky (formerly MakerDAO), Morpho, and Cosmos. The Ethereum Foundation’s $2M Fusaka contest drew 510+ researchers and surfaced four high-severity issues before mainnet launch, and the Aave V4 contest ran for six weeks with 936 participating researchers. This collaboration with Ripple pushes that reach further into one of the most established non-EVM ecosystems in the industry.

Contest Details

Start date: April 13, 2026

End date: April 27, 2026

Duration: Two weeks

Maximum reward pool: $550,000

Registration and full scope: audits.sherlock.xyz

 

Media Contact

Alec Novella

Head of Marketing, Sherlock

[email protected]