XRP Ledger Validator Issues Crucial Info on XRPL Clawback Feature Hours Before Launch

Well-known XRP Ledger dUNL validator Vet has disclosed some important information on the upcoming XRPL Clawback feature with 24 hours left before its implementation.

In a recent post on X, Vet emphasized that the XRPL Clawback does not work with XRP. Notably, several members of the XRP community have either expressed concerns or raised questions about the use of the Clawback feature to recall XRP tokens from a wallet.

XRP Ledger Clawback amendment activation is ~48h away, this amendment is ???? usable with issued tokens (tokens w/ issuers) on the XRPL, ??? XRP.

1️⃣ XRP has no issuer account
2️⃣ XRP has no trustline
3️⃣ Not possible to issue another token with the currency code "XRP" pic.twitter.com/X2weP55x5D

— Vet ?‍☠️ (@Vet_X0) February 6, 2024

These remarks especially gained traction following the hack that affected Ripple co-founder and chairman Chris Larsen’s wallet. The exploiters siphoned 213 million XRP from Larsen’s account in multiple batches of transactions worth millions.

The assets were first channeled to the hackers’ XRP wallets. Some observers suggested that this incident presents an opportunity to demonstrate the advantages of the Clawback feature, noting that the XRP tokens could be “clawed back” from the hackers’ accounts.

However, this was impossible for several reasons, including the fact that the Clawback feature had not been implemented. In addition, significantly, the feature does not work for XRP, as some have erroneously believed. 

Clawback Will not Work for XRP

Notably, for the Clawback feature to work on a token on the XRP Ledger, the token needs to have a trustline and an issuer account. Trustlines on the XRPL allow users to selectively determine the tokens they are open to holding, offering control over their account activities. 

According to the GitHub documentation for the Clawback feature, a transaction involving a Clawback tweaks a trustline by adjusting the balance and, if needed, changing specific settings as instructed.

For this reason, the feature is not workable with XRP because the asset, being the native gas token of the XRP Ledger, does not have trustlines. 

Moreover, for Clawback to work, it needs to be activated by the issuer account of the token. Tokens issued on the XRP Ledger have issuer accounts. The entity behind the account is responsible for executing the Clawback transaction. 

Nonetheless, XRP has no issuer account. As a result, there exists no account that could execute the Clawback transaction for a wallet holding XRP. Vet further highlighted that issuers can also not issue any token with the ticker “XRP” on the XRPL.

Meanwhile, as of press time, the XLS-39D amendment, which would implement the Clawback feature, has already attained validator consensus for nearly two weeks, with an overwhelming 94.29%. The amendment is expected to be enabled tomorrow at 14:32 (UTC).