In this solo YouTube commentary, Kamilah Stevenson explains the ongoing validator vote on the XRP Ledger (XRPL) to add an on‑ledger lending feature. She outlines XRPL’s decentralized governance model, where more than 80% of independent validators must continuously support a proposal for two weeks before activation, ensuring no single entity—including Ripple—can unilaterally change the network. The current proposal would enable fixed‑term, uncollateralized loans directly on the ledger, a design that carries significant trade‑offs because borrowers would not post collateral, placing greater reliance on the protocol’s rule set. Stevenson notes that only about one‑fifth of validators have voted “yes,” emphasizing the deliberate, transparent process as a contrast to traditional finance’s opaque decision‑making. She argues that the vote’s outcome, regardless of price impact, demonstrates the network’s capacity for self‑governance and maturity. Stevenson then shifts to personal wealth‑management advice, urging viewers to move crypto off exchanges and into custodial solutions she trusts. She describes her own holdings in iTrust Capital’s Roth IRA (tax‑advantaged crypto investment with contribution limits) and a Premium Custody account that offers a closed‑loop, scam‑resistant environment. She highlights additional features such as upcoming stock/ETF offerings, the ability to hold precious metals (gold, silver) within the same account, and a $100 funding bonus. Throughout, she stresses patience, infrastructure awareness, and a long‑term perspective over short‑term price speculation, warning viewers about emotional market manipulation. The video is framed as educational and entertainment content, not financial advice, and includes calls for audience engagement and feedback on governance preferences.
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The XRP Ledger is in the middle of an important decision that will affect all XRP holders. So right now, the XRP Ledger is holding a vote on whether to add a brand new feature to itself. And the fact that it even gets this vote is, uh, part of the story that I want to talk about. But about a fifth of the validators have said yes, which means it is undecided. And watching a network decide its own future in the open is something that traditional finance never lets you see. So I'm going to talk about what it is and what that I'm Kamilah Stevenson, and around here we do talk wealth. And of course, if we're talking wealth, we're talking XRP and the Ledger as well, because it's a part of some of our financial plans for the future as we hold XRP waiting on price appreciation. Uh, so I want to get into it and give you the updated news about the Ledger. I do want to say that nothing I share is financial advice. Everything I speak of is for educational and entertainment purposes only. So do your own research and let me know in the chat Do you know the difference between XRP and the Ledger, XRP Ledger? A lot of people still don't, and maybe that's something that I can revisit to help people to understand the difference between them and what the usage of the Ledger does for XRP or the amount of liquidity that comes to the Ledger, how that affects XRP. I just want to know where you are in your understanding of this. And yeah, just let me know if you know the difference between XRP and XRPL. Now let me share a little bit about the XRP Ledger. So the XRP Ledger is not run by one company, uh, with one switch where they can make decisions. It is run by a spread out group of independent computers called validators. And when someone proposes a change, those validators vote. So for a change to go live, more than 80% of them have to agree, and they have to keep agreeing, holding that support steady for a full 2 weeks before it activates., and that is a high bar on purpose. It means that no single company, not even Ripple, can force a change onto the network alone. So the process is not a new process, and its history is what gives this moment right now that they're trying to decide on a meaning. Okay. Every major upgrade that the ledger has ever adopted came through this same validator vote. Some proposals earned their 80% and activated, and others just never reached the line and were withdrawn and worked or just simply set aside. Okay, a network that has told itself no before and kept running is a network with real governance rather than a rubber stamp. Okay, so a vote sitting at a fifth of the way there is not a sign of trouble. It is the same gate that every change has always had to pass, working in real time on the ledger. And I'm sharing this because a lot of people don't even know how it works. So I want to know, what is the upgrade? What are we talking about right now? Well, the feature that's on the table is lending, and that's why I say it's important to you and I, but lending directly on the ledger. So today, borrowing and lending against your crypto usually means trusting an outside company to hold your money and honor the terms. Building it into the ledger itself means the rules are enforced by the network instead of by a company's promise. The current version is fixed in length and does not require the borrower to post collateral. A bold design with real trade-offs, which is exactly why thoughtful validators are taking their time instead of rubber stamping it. Like I said, they don't want to just approve it. They want to take their time with it. And so just this week, a dedicated test environment for the feature went live and a few validators began shifting towards yes. So the conversation is starting to move very carefully and this is all in public, right? So the uncollateralized part is worth, um, you understanding because it's the heart of the caution. In most lending, the borrower posts something that the system can seize if the loan goes bad, and that collateral is what keeps one person's default from becoming everybody's problem. A fixed-term loan with nothing posted behind it puts far more weight on the design of the rules themselves. This is not automatically wrong. It is simply a larger thing to get exactly right. And a validator who takes the ledger seriously is supposed to ask hard questions before bolting a feature in permanently, because that's what would happen. So the slowness here is a sign that people are doing their real homework. And I like to see that because I do want these upgrades to be carefully put into consideration. So think of the ledger as a building owned by everybody who lives in it. When someone proposes adding a new floor, The residents vote, and the floor only gets built if a strong majority agrees and keeps agreeing long enough to prove that it was not just some kind of passing mood or something that shouldn't have happened. That is much slower, uh, than a single owner giving an order because you have to have consensus. And the slowness to me is the point. It is how a system makes sure that what gets added is something that the whole community actually wanted and stress-tested first. So the vote, of course, is not a price event, and whether it passes or fails, the value it reveals is the same: a financial network that can govern itself, add real tools, and disagree in the open without a central boss and without chaos. And so while retail is just watching the price, all of this is going on that you need to know about the Ledger and XRP. And the people who understand this space watch whether the infrastructure can make grown-up decisions on its own, and this vote is that maturity on full display. Why everybody watching the wrong thing? It's so much other stuff that's going on. Now, the same principle is going to run into your own money, right? This whole process is about structure and how you design things and how you safeguard things and how you put boundaries around making the wrong decision. All right, so it's a structure and it's about a system deciding on purpose by rule how it wants to be governed rather than leaving it by chance, which most people are going to do. They're going to leave all their decisions by chance, and most people are just reacting to what is happening. They're not planning in a calm environment and slowly trying to adopt a process that's going to genuinely help to benefit and preserve their wealth for the future. So you have people that have their holdings left wherever they happen to land, right, on whatever exchange with no structure around them, and is exposed in a way that's very easy to fix if you think about it. And so this is why I keep saying, you know, get your crypto off the exchanges. If anything goes wrong, if, you know, um, something happens, if there's a super volatile move, you are going to be limited in your options. And if you have them on the exchanges, you do not own them. They are on the books of the exchange. You are the creditor, and they will owe you back your crypto that you paid your hard-earned money for. So, uh, because of that reason, a portion of my XRP sits inside a few, uh, accounts that are connected to institutional level custody. And that is through iTrust Capital. I have a Roth IRA, and inside that structure, there is a feature that helps to protect your money from taxes when you have an appreciation. When I sell, I will not have to pay taxes, and that is what that account is for. I also have a Premium Custody account that is a closed-loop system that is there to really protect my crypto so that there are no scam artists or no bad actors that can wind up stealing my crypto from me. They won't allow it in this particular account. And so I love having some of my XRP exposed there where I feel safe and I feel like nobody can ever take my XRP from me here, right? And so if you decide that you do want to open up an account with them. They have a system that's really quick that you can move funds there and you can invest inside your assets. In the Roth account, you do have to only put money in there and then buy the asset because, you know, the government has to keep track with how much you're funding that Roth account because there is a limit. If you're under 50, I believe it's $7,500, and if you're over, it could be $7,600. And if you're over 50, it's like $8,500 or $8,600. Always get the numbers mixed up. But in the premium custody account, you can actually move your crypto there, okay? And so, um, you have the choice of moving money or your crypto there. You have those options. They are coming out with stocks and ETFs in the summertime, and so, uh, we're looking out for that so that you can buy everything all together in one account. And they also allow you to buy precious metals, silver and gold, in the same account. Uh, so I have some of that also in my Roth account because, again, I believe that gold and silver will do very well, and I will not have to pay taxes on the appreciation of that. They do give you a $100 free funding bonus, um, after you fund the account. So that's extra money that you can now invest in a plethora of assets that you can hold inside of those accounts. And also, let me know what your thoughts are about the XRP Ledger. Are you, um, comfortable with the fact that there has to be a consensus before decisions are made, Or are you old school in the traditional way where you feel like one person needs to be in charge and make all the decisions? I would love to hear how you're thinking about this. Go ahead and like the video, subscribe if you have not already, and just understand that, uh, we are in a design where infrastructure is being laid and there is so much activity that's going on that is very encouraging. If you can just pull your mind into some stability and, and not be so overly consumed about the fact that the price hasn't done what you wanted to do, uh, then you can get more clear on exactly what's happening behind the scenes that a lot of the headlines won't tell you because they don't want you to know that stuff. All they care about is tricking you with your emotions to make you capitulate, you know, your holdings so that they can buy your fear. That's basically what they would love to do. But instead, let us buy the fear, right? Let us buy fear from other people. Trust me, the institutions are not afraid. They're not selling right now. They're actually buying. And it shows in even the inflows of the ETFs if you look at the numbers. All right, so continue to build patience through this game because I'm telling you, it is going to pay off in the end. And as always, I want you to stay wise, stay wealthy, and I'll see you in the next video.
