To Squelch or not to Squelch: Enabling Improved Message Dissemination on the XRP Ledger

TL;DR

This paper tackles the node-wise scalability bottleneck in XRPL caused by flooding-based dissemination of consensus messages. It evaluates Squelching, an in-network relay-control mechanism that selectively forwards validator messages to reduce duplicates, using both production XRPL MainNet measurements and a controlled Grid5000 testbed, with comparisons to XRP-NDN overlays and GossipSub. Through regression-based modeling of CPU usage and message traffic, the authors quantify potential gains and extrapolate to mainnet-scale scenarios, reporting up to 17.2% CPU savings and a 29% increase in achievable peers for a 200-peer hub. The study demonstrates that targeted relay reduction can meaningfully improve scalability without compromising security in a production-like environment, while also outlining tradeoffs and the need for security-focused future work. The findings have practical implications for improving XRP Ledger and other consensus-validation blockchains, suggesting that intrinsic relay optimization can augment node connectivity and throughput without introducing a separate overlay network. Overall, Squelching offers a promising direction for scalable, efficient XRPL operation, given careful parameter tuning and security validation.

Abstract

With the large increase in the adoption of blockchain technologies, their underlying peer-to-peer networks must also scale with the demand. In this context, previous works highlighted the importance of ensuring efficient and resilient communication for the underlying consensus and replication mechanisms. However, they were mainly focused on mainstream, Proof-of-Work-based Distributed Ledger Technologies like Bitcoin or Ethereum. In this paper, the problem is investigated in the context of consensus-validation based blockchains, like the XRP Ledger. The latter relies on a Federated Byzantine Agreement (FBA) consensus mechanism which is proven to have a good scalability in regards to transaction throughput. However, it is known that significant increases in the size of the XRP Ledger network would be challenging to achieve. The main reason is the flooding mechanism used to disseminate the messages related to the consensus protocol, which creates many duplicates in the network. Squelching is a recent solution proposed for limiting this duplication, however, it was never evaluated quantitatively in real-life scenarios involving the XRPL production network. In this paper, our aim is to assess this mechanism using a real-life controllable testbed and the XRPL production network, to assess its benefit and compare it to alternative solutions relying on Named Data Networking and on a gossip-based approach.

Figures (6)

• Figure 1: The Ledger building process on XRPL.
• Figure 2: Squelching sequence diagram.
• Figure 3: IN/OUT number of msgs. (y)vs number of peers (x), (Val: validation, Prop: proposal, Tx: transaction).
• Figure 4: Total number of messages, unmodified vs. squelching.
• Figure 5: Extrapolation of number of peers and CPU(%).