Schwartz's XRPL Hub Got Stable Again, But The Reason is Unknown

Peer Count Climbs Back Above 500

David Schwartz (@JoelKatz), CTO Emeritus at Ripple and one of the original architects of the XRP Ledger, says his personal XRPL hub server has become noticeably more stable over the past two weeks, with active peer connections climbing back above 500. The chart he shared on X showed 501 active peers at its latest reading, close to the two-week high of 509.

Schwartz noted that his server has been seeing fewer peer disconnects, a trend that has allowed connections to stay alive for longer and created a more predictable networking environment. He was candid about the limits of his own understanding, writing that his hub had "mysteriously gotten more stable and reliable with fewer peer disconnects" and that he was not sure of the cause.

What an XRPL Hub Actually Does

The update is specific to Schwartz's own infrastructure and does not reflect a formal assessment of the broader XRP Ledger network. Context matters here. According to the official XRP Ledger documentation, a hub server is a peer-to-peer mode server that maintains a large number of connections to other nodes, relaying ledger data, transactions, and network information between them. Reliable hubs are considered important to the overall health and connectivity of the network, and some are hardcoded into the rippled source code as bootstrap connection points for new servers joining the network.

Fewer disconnects on a hub like Schwartz's means existing peer connections are remaining alive for longer, reducing the overhead of re-establishing dropped links. The two-week chart covering September 3 through September 17 makes the gradual improvement visible, though it does not by itself explain why connections are dropping less frequently.

The stability comes after a difficult period for XRPL peer connectivity. A manifest-flood attack in July 2026 disrupted peer connections across the network by overwhelming nodes with fake or unverified validator manifests, placing additional CPU and memory pressure on affected systems. Developers responded with emergency patches, including the xrpld 3.2.1 hotfix released on July 31, which limited manifest sizes and reworked data caching for unknown nodes. Schwartz's hub appears to have benefited from those fixes, though he stopped short of identifying any specific cause for the latest improvement.

The broader XRPL network continued closing ledgers throughout the July incident, with validator redundancy and prioritized peer relationships keeping consensus intact despite the disruption to general peer connectivity.

Sources:
U.Today: XRP Ledger Hub Gets Mysteriously More Stable, Ripple CTO Emeritus Notes
XRP Ledger Docs: xrpld Server Modes (Hub Server definition)
Coin Edition: David Schwartz Says XRPL Survived Network-Wide Attack