Ripple CTO David Schwartz: Clawback cannot recover stolen XRP

Ripple’s Honorary CTO, David Schwartz, has issued a new statement regarding the ability to recover stolen assets on the XRP Ledger. He affirmed that the network’s “Clawback” feature cannot be used to reverse fraudulent transactions related to native XRP.

This clarification comes after a serious security incident targeting the GTF community and Apex.

The incident began when the X account of the Global Trade Finance (GTF) platform warned that their VC wallet had been compromised through a “fake NFT offer” and a scam called “XRP Voucher.” According to the announcement, the attack affected the project’s second-largest liquidity provider (LP). The account also called on the community for support and urged them to forward information to Schwartz for urgent intervention.

Some users suggested that the “Clawback” mechanism on the XRP Ledger could help recover stolen assets. However, Schwartz quickly dismissed this possibility, emphasizing that XRP has no issuing entity. He explained that only assets issued by an organization can be subject to Clawback — but XRP cannot.

On the XRP Ledger, most tokens (such as stablecoins, wrapped assets, or meme tokens) are issued by a specific address. Users must establish a trustline with the issuer to hold those tokens. If the issuer activates the Clawback option (introduced via XLS-39 amendment), they have the authority to recover tokens from user wallets — a mechanism typically used for managed assets like stablecoins to freeze funds or reverse fraudulent transactions.

In contrast, XRP is the only asset on the ledger that is not issued by any account. There is no “issuer account” holding a private key to execute a recovery command. This structure helps XRP maintain its censorship resistance and prevents transaction reversals.