A brief two-hour decline in validator backing has postponed the deployment of the XRP Ledger’s newest bug fix into November, arriving less than 48 hours prior to its planned activation.
Validators function as autonomous servers responsible for validating legitimate transactions. Modifying the network protocols requires approval from over 80% of the 35 default trusted network nodes, translating to a minimum of 29 votes.
This backing is evaluated approximately every 15 minutes, and the threshold must be maintained continuously during every single verification over a 14-day duration. Failing even once for a short duration resets the entire timer back to zero.
The patch, designated as fixCleanup3_4_0, had zero margin for error. It maintained precisely 29 votes on Monday, with the go-live scheduled for 09:34 UTC on Oct. 23. During a verification check at 12:54 UTC on Wednesday, just 26 validators were casting affirmative votes, according to XRPL Dashboard.
By 14:46 UTC, the tally recovered to 29 votes, initiating a brand-new countdown. XRPLWin currently displays the scheduled activation of the fix at 14:46 UTC on Nov. 4. Backing has subsequently increased to 31 out of 35 validators, meaning the patch enters its second attempt with a buffer of two supporting votes, compared to having none during the initial run.
Originally published at https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2026/10/22/xrp-ledger-bug-fix-moved-to-november-after-validator-support-dipped-for-two-hours.
