Firelight said it is preparing an on-chain protection layer backed by staked XRP as DeFi projects face renewed security pressure

Summary

• Firelight surpassed 50 million staked XRP after whale deposits and expanded capacity for FXRP vaults.
• The protocol plans a Q2 protection layer covering smart contracts, bridges, oracles, and economic failures.
• Firelight said exploit losses topped $137 million in Q1 as demand rose for on-chain protection.

The plan follows a new milestone for the protocol, which said staked XRP on Firelight has now passed 50 million on Flare.

According to a press release, Firelight crossed 50 million staked XRP after a series of large deposits. The report said several whale deposits were above 1 million XRP each, while the protocol also expanded capacity for FXRP deposits.

Firelight operates on Flare’s FAssets system, where users deposit XRP, mint FXRP, and stake it in Firelight’s vault in return for stXRP. Firelight said stXRP can then move across the Flare ecosystem for other DeFi uses.

Protocol plans a protection layer for DeFi risks

Firelight said the current vault is designed to pool capital for its DeFi Cover engine. In a recent protocol update, the team said the cover product is planned for Q2 and would track “Total Value Covered,” a measure tied to protected capital rather than deposited capital alone.

The protocol said the protection layer is meant to cover risks tied to smart contract failures, oracle issues, bridge exploits, and other economic vulnerabilities. Firelight expects this second phase to let other protocols buy protection backed by the staked FXRP pool.

Security demand rises as exploit losses build

Firelight linked the rollout to the pace of recent DeFi losses. Thefts tied to DeFi exploits in the first quarter of 2026 passed $137 million, while Firelight pointed to a recent stablecoin exploit that produced $23 million in unbacked tokens after a private key leak.

In its latest protocol note, Firelight said its vaults were audited by OpenZeppelin and Coinspect, and that the FAssets bridge also went through audits. The same update said the first 25 million FXRP deposit ceiling filled within six hours, and the raised 65 million FXRP cap moved past the halfway mark soon after.

Firelight said it is building the protection layer with Sentora. Sentora is an institutional DeFi intelligence platform formed through the merger of IntoTheBlock and Trident Digital.

The partnership places Firelight’s next phase around risk management as much as staking. For XRP holders on Flare, the plan would tie staking activity to a protection market that targets DeFi security failures across multiple risk categories.