Ex Ripple CTO Confirms XRP Has No Issuer to Clawback Stolen Funds

Former Ripple CTO David Schwartz has again clarified that XRP has no issuer, and as such, victims cannot seek to clawback stolen funds.

Schwartz, who now assumes the position of CTO emeritus at Ripple, recently disclosed this after a new “LP Reward Voucher” NFT scam drained funds from a major liquidity provider wallet, leading to speculations about whether the XRP Ledger’s clawback feature could help.

Key Points

• An XRPL-based project recently revealed that its second-largest liquidity provider fell victim to an XRP voucher scam.
• Some suggested using clawback to recover the stolen funds, but David Schwartz clarified that only an issuer can claw back an asset.
• Schwartz emphasized that XRP has no issuer, so no one can freeze or reverse stolen XRP.
• The XRPL activated Clawback in February 2024, and AMMClawback in January 2025, but these features apply only to issued tokens, not XRP.
• The recent scam tricks users into accepting unsolicited NFT sell offers that transfer their tokens in exchange for worthless NFTs.

XRP Community Facing New NFT Scam

For context, community member Apex589 first called attention to the scam in a post on X. He warned investors that their project’s second-largest liquidity provider had fallen victim to an XRP voucher scam. Apex589 urged everyone to stay alert and refuse suspicious offers.

Soon after, the GTFXRP account shared more details, revealing that the affected address was a venture capital (VC) wallet. The account stressed that the space was becoming increasingly unsafe and asked whether someone could bring the issue directly to David Schwartz’s attention.

“XRP Has No Issuer”

Responding to these concerns, a community member asked if the Clawback feature could be useful in this scenario. However, David Schwartz explained that only the issuer of a specific asset can claw it back. He then pointed out that XRP has no issuer, which means no one holds the authority to reverse or reclaim it.

Nope. Assets can only be clawed back by their issuer and XRP has no issuer.

— David ‘JoelKatz’ Schwartz (@JoelKatz) February 13, 2026

Schwartz has made similar comments in the past. When another investor reported losing between 75,000 and 80,000 XRP to scammers last November and asked if the tokens could be frozen, Schwartz stated that only an asset’s issuer can claw it back.

In April 2023, Schwartz explained that no person or company issues or redeems XRP. Notably, users do not need to trust any central party to use it. This is in contrast with every other asset on the XRP Ledger, which requires users to trust a specific issuer.

The Clawback Feature Does Not Affect XRP

For context, the XRPL community activated the Clawback amendment in February 2024. That feature allows issuers of tokens, such as stablecoins or other issued assets, to reclaim funds from trust lines in cases involving fraud, compliance, or operational mistakes. 

On Jan. 30, 2025, the community activated the AMMClawback amendment, which allows tokens with clawback enabled to participate in automated market makers.

However, XRP does not fall under these rules. As the native asset of the XRP Ledger, XRP operates without an issuer. Because no issuer exists, no one can freeze it, reverse it, or claw it back.

Notably, an exploit in January 2024 confirmed this fact. Specifically, during this hack, Chris Larsen, Ripple’s co-founder and chairman, lost around $150 million worth of XRP in a hack. 

Despite Ripple’s position in the ecosystem and the activation of the Clawback amendment a month later, the company could not retrieve or freeze the stolen funds. The hacker kept control of the wallets even after the amendment went live. This also applies to the recent LP Reward Voucher scam. 

How the LP Reward Voucher NFT Scam Works

For context, the new scam uses the XRP Ledger’s NFT broker mode to trick users. Specifically, scammers send unsolicited NFT sell offers that look like reward vouchers. Victims believe they are claiming a bonus or incentive.

In reality, the offer includes a pre-set payment in tokens in exchange for a worthless NFT. When the victim accepts the offer, the ledger executes the transaction exactly as written. The victim’s tokens, whether XRP, LP tokens, meme tokens, or any other asset, go straight to the scammer.