Ripple's former CTO confirms no issuer for XRP: NFT scam led to funds being stolen, victims unable to recover tokens

February 14 News, former Ripple Chief Technology Officer and current Honorary CTO David Schwartz reiterated that XRP has no issuing entity, so in cases of theft or scam, no one can freeze, revoke, or recover these tokens. This statement was made in response to a recent “LP Reward Voucher” NFT scam, which resulted in a major liquidity provider’s wallet being drained and sparked widespread discussion in the community about XRP Ledger’s recovery features.

The earliest report of this incident came from X platform user Apex589, who noted that a liquidity provider suffered losses after receiving suspicious NFTs. Subsequently, GTFXRP added that the affected address belongs to a venture capital firm and urged the community to report the situation directly to David Schwartz. Some users asked whether losses could be recovered through XRPL’s recovery mechanism, but Schwartz responded that only assets with an issuing entity can be recovered, and since XRP is a native asset without an issuer, it cannot be reclaimed.

He emphasized that XRP differs from other tokens on the ledger, which rely on specific issuers and are under their control. As early as 2023, Schwartz pointed out multiple times that no individual or company “issues” or “redeems” XRP, so there is no feasible way to freeze or reverse transactions.

Although XRPL introduced a recovery mechanism for token issuers in February 2024, and expanded it to automated market maker scenarios in January 2025, these rules do not apply to XRP. Previously, Ripple co-founder and chairman Chris Larsen lost about $150 million worth of XRP in a hacking incident, and it could not be recovered by any technical means.

The LP reward voucher scam exploited XRPL’s NFT brokerage model. Scammers sent users fake NFT offers disguised as rewards, but in reality, they pre-set high token payments. When victims accepted the offer, the ledger automatically executed the transaction, transferring assets to the scammer’s wallet.

This incident serves as a reminder that in decentralized networks, asset security heavily depends on individual judgment. Once a mistake is made, the consequences are often irreversible.