xMerch: Building Commerce On Xahau And Evernode
In our modern world, where traditional payment processors charge merchants upward of 3% per transaction, a new generation of builders is creating infrastructure that allows businesses to accept cryptocurrency payments with minimal friction.
xMerch
At the vanguard of this movement is xMerch, a commerce platform built on the Xahau network.
Where It Began
xMerch's origin story began with the "Build on Xahau" Contest in January of 2025.
Meister's Contest Entry In January 2025
Behind xMerch is Meister, a web developer & entrepreneur who's been building web apps since 2008.
The contest challenged developers to build applications on Xahau, a network that is, in essence, the XRP Ledger code ... but with account-based smart contracts known as 'hooks'.
Personal Transformation
Meister's entry into blockchain originated, as it did for many of us, with a missed opportunity.
In 2016, a client offered to pay him in Bitcoin for an 18-month project. At the time, he was using PayPal and politely declined, asking for traditional payment instead. That decision cost him what would have become 253 Bitcoin! 😲 One of many painful stories in crypto, this is a dramatic reminder of the industry's potential to reward early developers and adopters.
When Xahau launched, Meister saw an opportunity to build commerce infrastructure the right way. He began developing xMerch in the same month the network went live.
The Build on Xahau contest provided a vehicle to build out his mental proof-of-concept. His submission demonstrated an on-chain payment processor that would allow merchants to accept XAH (Xahau's native token) for real products.
xMerch Buildout
What started as a contest entry evolved into a full-scale platform. Meister's vision was clear from the beginning: create ...
"stupid-simple e-commerce tools for the ledger era."
But simple for users meant building sophisticated infrastructure behind the scenes.
The core of xMerch is a payment processor built on Xahau that enables vendors to accept cryptocurrency payments - specifically XAH - with prices denominated in USD. This ability removes a major barrier for both merchants and crypto-rich customers.
Early in xMerch's development, a pivotal moment happened when Andy, a Hooks contributor, reached out, wanting to sell his products on the platform.
At that time, xMerch was designed as a single storefront.
This request sparked the next evolution: transforming xMerch into multi-vendor commerce infrastructure. Meister handled the full-stack logic to make multi-vendor checkout work end-to-end, while Andy played a key role in coding the smart contracts that underpin the integration with Xahau.
The architecture is intentionally built to serve two distinct audiences.
For developers and technical teams, xMerch provides a CLI (command-line interface) that allows programmatic deployment of XRPL/Xahau-based storefronts, integrations, and on-chain workflows. For business users and entrepreneurs, the xMerch platform abstracts this complexity through dashboards and storefront tools that enable on-chain payments, settlement management, and reward programs - all without requiring merchants to understand wallets, IOUs, or ledger mechanics.
The Site
At xmerch.app, the platform currently operates as a live demonstration of on-chain commerce.
xMerch Website & Tools
Visitors can browse a selection of products and purchase them, with prices clearly displayed in USD. The marketplace is currently invite-only as Meister and his team test hooks functionality and refine deployment templates. This gated approach reflects the team's commitment to reliability over rapid expansion.
xMerch's new CLI tool makes deploying an on-chain storefront straightforward for technical users, and notably integrates Evernode - a decentralized hosting network & secondary smart contract platform built on Xahau - allowing for seamless deployment of commerce applications.
Helping The Competition
In a counterintuitive move that speaks to xMerch's broader mission, the platform actively helps other vendors onboard to Xahau. Rather than creating a walled garden, xMerch is building the infrastructure layer that other commerce projects can use.
This approach reflects a fundamental understanding of blockchain networks: the value grows as the ecosystem grows.
Meister is currently in early conversations with investors, ecosystem supporters, and real-world businesses looking to deploy directly on XRPL, Xahau, and Evernode using xMerch tooling.
Rather than waiting for funding to ship features, the team continues building and releasing.
Token Creator ... And AMM!
In a significant expansion of the platform's capabilities, xMerch recently launched dex.xmerch.app, a suite of decentralized exchange tools that serves both as a standalone utility and as an integrated feature for xMerch vendors.
The xMerch Xahau DEX Tools Site
The DEX tools enable users to:
- Create new tokens (IOUs) on Xahau with minimal technical knowledge
- Execute DEX swaps directly on the Xahau network
- Bootstrap initial liquidity through automated market maker functionality
For developers and entrepreneurs, this represents a complete toolkit for launching a tokenized project on Xahau.
The high-level workflow Meister envisions:
- Spin up a dApp using the xMerch CLI
- Create an IOU (token) on xMerch DEX
- Create a market pairing (IOU/XAH) on xMerch DEX
- Launch the dApp accepting the IOU on Evernode
For xMerch vendors, these tools offer powerful options for creating loyalty programs, reward tokens, or settlement assets tied directly to real commerce activity.
Concrete Example
A merchant could, for instance, issue store credit as an IOU, create liquidity for that IOU against XAH, and allow customers to trade or redeem those credits - all without leaving the xMerch ecosystem.
The DEX functionality is accessible through the CLI for developers and through guided, UI-driven actions for less technical merchants. This dual-interface approach ensures both audiences can leverage the same powerful infrastructure.
AMMs On Xahau: The Missing Link
The AMM (Automated Market Maker) functionality xMerch introduced addresses a critical gap in the Xahau ecosystem. Unlike its predecessor, the XRP Ledger, Xahau does not have any (native) AMM function in its protocol code.
For now, xMerch is using its own proprietary application-layer AMM logic; but Meister indicated he's ready and willing to share whatever is necessary when the larger Xahau community begins discussions about a protocol-level AMM function, or even a smart-contract-based version of an AMM.
The initial version of xMerch's AMM implementation enables token creators to bootstrap their own liquidity pools. Developers can now launch tokens knowing they have the tools to create immediate liquidity and trade-ability.
In regards to the first version of xMerch's AMM approach, Meister cautioned that people should fully understand that it remains a tentative approach; he indicated that one of the more likely scenarios for AMMs is that Xahau eventually implements its own version of the XRP Ledger AMM code.
Regardless of the future path for the network, however, xMerch is moving forward with its current approach at vendor support. In addition, he indicated that xMerch is ...
"... planning and testing the use of hooks for Xahau CBA claims automation, with a longer-term vision that includes IOUs as well."
With this additional point, he's hinting about hook-based, automatic trades and even, potentially, forms of yield on issued assets (IOUs).
How Evernode Is Used
Completing the circle for those applications that truly wish to build on decentralized infrastructure, xMerch deploys the new dApps on Evernode, and even operates its own infrastructure on that network.
Evernode Network: DePIN & Smart Contracts
For those that understand how Evernode works, this is a remarkable integration, because it leverages truly decentralized infrastructure, making the applications hosted there much more resistant to outside forces. Without a Web 2.0 element, any new dApp can be deployed with a greater degree of independence and resistance to censorship ... or other forces originating from bad actors.
xMerch's Vision For The Future
While the immediate roadmap focuses on expanding vendor onboarding, refining hooks integration, and rolling out v2 of the DEX and AMM tools, the broader vision for xMerch is ambitious: becoming the default commerce infrastructure layer for businesses building on XRPL, Xahau, and Evernode.
The xMerch ticker (XMERCH) is already live on Xahau.
"Our ticker, XMERCH, is live and actively supports continued research and development of our core infrastructure, including tokenization, market-making, and the next wave of deployable DAO and DEX templates."
The integration with Evernode as deployment infrastructure hints at a longer-term vision where commerce applications are truly decentralized, running on distributed hosting rather than centralized cloud servers. This aligns with blockchain's fundamental promise: removing single points of failure and intermediaries.
"From day one, our core philosophy has been simple: give builders and businesses the tools to spin up on-chain commerce on XRPL/Xahau with as little friction as possible. The Build on Xahau submission helped turn that philosophy into a working foundation."
If xMerch can continue executing on its vision of "stupid-simple" commerce tools, it may help usher in the next phase of blockchain adoption.
X>
Sources:
'X' DM Q&A with Meister: https://x.com/xrpl_mworks
https://x.com/xrpl_mworks/status/2015158220273455166?s=20
