Crypto giant Ripple has been entangled in a lawsuit with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) since late 2020. The verdict of the judge has been awaited for a long time, but it now seems very close. Ripple is assisted by lawyers from his backing, including John Deaton. He thinks Ripple will win rather than lose.
External lawyer for Ripple
John Deaton is not a Ripple attorney, but he is an attorney with courtroom experience. He has been assisting Ripple and XRP’s supporters almost since the beginning of the lawsuit, and successfully. For example, he was able to prevent crypto company LBRY from losing the lawsuit that is very similar to Ripple’s case. Instead, that case ended in a settlement.
Deaton has also achieved “amica curae” status in the Ripple-SEC lawsuit, meaning he can represent other XRP investors. He regularly expresses his strong opinion on the situation. For example, he recently found that the SEC’s chances are getting smaller and smaller. This is partly because LBRY has now not completely lost the lawsuit.
Four scenarios for Ripple lawsuit
The lawyer explains all his scenarios on Twitter. The best outcome, of course, is for the judge to rule that the SEC is abusing its power and that Ripple can continue to do what it does. The second best outcome is that secondary sales are legal, and that Ripple has sold XRP as a security to about 100 investors.
imagined #XRP outcome:
Best outcome: outright win for @Ripple w/the Judge smacking the SEC for gross overreach and behavior in the case (Judge Netburn has commented SEC lawyers are hypocrites, lack faithful allegiance to the law, and only care about winning the next argument); https://t.co/gJXoxZX6cf
— John E Deaton (@JohnEDeaton1) March 31, 2023
The third best outcome is that the motions of both parties are defeated. In that case, the case could take another year, for example. Secondary sales are legal in this case. But Deaton proposes a fourth scenario where the dispute could take even longer to resolve.
For a worst-case scenario, he predicts a win for the SEC, but in which XRP sales in the secondary market are not covered by securities laws. In that case, he says he wants to do the same for Ripple and XRP investors as he did for LBRY – actively interfere in the matter.
He thinks that if you only look at the win scenarios for one of the parties, the scenario in which Ripple wins is the most likely. In his eyes, the SEC’s theory is far-fetched. The question he thinks is whether Judge Torres thinks the same about this.