David Schwartz, Ripple’s chief technology officer, has explained why you have changed your stance regarding the XRPL recovery feature.
This feature, a hot topic in the Ripple community, was initially met with skepticism from Schwartz. Recent discussions have led him to once again recognize the potential benefits of it, particularly for issuers of assets on the XRP Ledger.
A controversial feature
The recovery feature is a mechanism that allows digital asset issuers to “recover” or “reverse” specific transactions under certain conditions. The main objective of the recovery function is to provide an additional layer of control and security for asset issuers. On a technical level, recovery is implemented through smart contract provisions or specific codes within the blockchain protocol.
The XRPL recovery feature, known as XLS-39 Clawback, was announced by the RippleX team in September.
In June 2021, the Ripple executive wrote that he found it “difficult” to think of a use case where the recovery feature would be particularly useful.
“I almost always tend to prefer less accounting mechanics and that everything that can be done outside of accounting should be done outside of accounting,” he said.
a change of heart
In recent posts on X, Schwartz outlined the key reasons behind his change of heart. Firstly, he pointed out the practical challenges for XRPL issuers without the recovery feature, as it would require them to develop new operating rules and procedures.
Secondly, it pointed out the ambiguity in distinguishing between obligations and non-obligations among assets frozen in the ledger.
This reassessment is a significant departure from his previous position, where he was leaning toward minimizing general ledger mechanics and handling more off-ledger functions, as noted above.
As U.Today reported, Schwartz also defended the functionality in an October discussion on X.
