Since late 2015, the Hyperledger Project has existed to facilitate collaboration among developing blockchains and distributed ledgers of various types. Developed by the Linux Foundation and now including dozens of members, Hyperledger aims to improve the performance of blockchain networks in order to help integrate this new technology with businesses worldwide. Now, Coindesk reports that the distributed ledger startup Ripple, the developer of the cryptocurrency of the same name, has joined the consortium. (Related: What's the Difference between Bitcoin and Ripple?)

Since the first pool of partner organizations was announced in early 2016, Hyperledger has added more than 200 different partners to its consortium. Hyperledger's announcement of the addition of Ripple to its ranks also included notice of 13 other companies and organizations which would join at the same time, too. One of the other companies to join the project is CULedger, a different consortium in and of itself, a project which is backed by a group of credit unions. (Related: Why Some Claim Ripple Isn't a 'Real' Cryptocurrency)

Among other immediate benefits to Ripple is the use of the Interledger Protocol (ILP). Ripple CTO Stefan Thomas indicated that Ripple «developers will be able to access [ILP] in Java for enterprise use.» ILP was formerly only operable on JavaScript. However, thanks to a partnership in 2017 between Ripple and Japanese system integration outfit NTT Data, ILP is now operable with the Java language as well. Ripple and NTT Data rebranded the new version of the protocol as Hyperledger Quilt, submitting it back to the Hyperledger consortium. Thomas explains that «the Hyperledger Quilt project connects Hyperledger blockchains with other