Ripple CTO: XRP Has No Issuer

Ripple CTO David Schwartz, in a recent reply on X, shed light on a key $XRP Ledger feature, clawback, stating categorically that $XRP has no issuer.

An X user had asked the Ripple CTO to shed light on clawback, asking if the feature could be used to retrieve $XRP lost through scams.

The Ripple CTO answered in the negative, highlighting the implication of the question as that which might encourage refund scammers. Schwartz added that only an issuer of a token can claw it back, and as $XRP has no issuer, it cannot be clawed back.

In August 2024, the clawback feature was enabled on $XRP Ledger through the clawback amendment.

The AMM clawback feature enabled by the AMM clawback amendment in January 2025 allows the clawing back of tokens from a holder who has deposited issued tokens into an AMM pool. The amendment also enabled Ripple USD stablecoin RLUSD, a clawback token, to be traded and exchanged directly on $XRP Ledger’s DEX.

$XRP cannot be clawed back

The need for clawback comes as some issuers might require the ability to recover tokens after they are distributed to accounts, for regulatory and compliance purposes.

For example, if an issuer were to discover that tokens were sent to an account sanctioned for illegal activity, the issuer could recover, or claw back, the funds. The ability to claw back funds is controlled differently for different types of tokens, which must be issuer-enabled. The feature is not automatic as the issuer must initiate the clawback. In addition, MPT tokens can be clawed back by the issuer if the clawback feature was enabled for MPT issuance. This ability was added by MPTokenv1amendment, enabled in January of this year.

However, $XRP is not a token (all assets other than $XRP can be represented in the $XRP Ledger as tokens) and cannot be clawed back as it has no issuer, as the Ripple CTO stated.

$XRP has a fixed total supply of 100 billion, which was entirely created at its launch in 2012, with no mining or future token creation possible.