Attorneys for the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are asking Judge Torres to ban Ripple’s lawyer, John Deaton, in the never-ending XRP crypto lawsuit. Here’s what happened.
The new episode in the XRP crypto lawsuit: SEC lawyers vs John Deaton
Apparently, the never-ending crypto lawsuit over XRP now sees a new episode of its own. SEC lawyers are asking Judge Torres to ban Ripple’s lawyer, John Deaton.
It’s worth noting that the SEC lawyers tried to get Judge Torres to ban @JohnEDeaton1 from participating in the case partly because he disclosed the name of their expert witness.
Not only did she not ban him, she agreed with him that Doody shouldn’t testify about #XRP holders.
— Eleanor Terrett (@EleanorTerrett) March 7, 2023
In essence, SEC attorneys would take action to lash out at Ripple’s strong supporters, such as attorney John Deaton, who has been providing the community with various clarifications about the lawsuit since the beginning.
Not only that, Deaton also filed several amicus briefs as a friend of the court, becoming a real threat to the SEC. Lawyers for the regulator urged Judge Torres to bar Deaton from participating in the case, in part because he revealed the name of their expert.
However, the judge not only did not grant the request, but also agreed that the commission’s expert should not testify about XRP holders.
The crypto lawsuit over XRP and Deaton’s comments on Twitter
Of course, one of Ripple’s leading supporters wasted no time and shared it on Twitter.
Some people were like wtf is going on with this crazy ass motion to intervene. Many other people, especially lawyers, believed I was crazy for filing such an unusual and unlikely motion. I don’t blame them for thinking that b/c it was an unprecedented move.
— John E Deaton (@JohnEDeaton1) March 5, 2023
In his roundup of tweets, Deaton explains that he filed an unusual and improbable motion to intervene, which was joined by as many as 12,600 XRP holders. These HODLers would have joined the lawsuit by passing themselves off as actual defendants.
For Deaton, this was extraordinary symbolism that “said a lot” about the public interest of the case. And indeed, the lawyer points out how the SEC has waged a war not only on XRP but also on the entire crypto industry.
The subject of this lawsuit is the token that is still called a security, regardless of the seller, or to the circumstances of sale. In that regard, here is Deaton’s proposed solution:
“We must think out of the box and organize. For example, all companies in active litigation w/the SEC, or about to be, should be meeting, sharing ideas, and developing coordinated strategies. Its a war.I’d be happy to help. Maybe I can replace @elonmusk as the SEC’s most hated.”
Ripple CEO interview, “cryptocurrency industry moves outside the U.S.”
Recently, Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of Ripple, reportedly gave an interview in which he said that the crypto industry is already moving out of the US.
.@KaileyLeinz asked “If the US doesn’t get its act together…is all of this [crypto] going offshore?”
Me: “It already is.”
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – crypto moving offshore is not good for American innovation. Period, full stop. https://t.co/OWz8uoRHrI
— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) March 2, 2023
Garlinghouse suggested that the US regulatory approach is driving all crypto and blockchain innovation out of the country. The main reason, of course, can only be attributed to the SEC, which is making the United States an increasingly unattractive place for the cryptocurrency industry.
In this regard, Garlinghouse said that the crypto sector is already starting to move out of the US, to countries such as Australia, the UK, Japan, Singapore and Switzerland. In fact, the Ripple CEO said that these countries have decided to introduce clear and transparent rules for the entire industry.
XRP’s survey: “97 % of payment companies believe in the power of crypto”
Recently, Ripple (XRP) carried out a survey that showed that 97% of payment companies believe in the power of cryptocurrencies.
This survey also showed that while there is confidence for the development of the crypto sector, there is a lack of regulatory clarity that becomes a major obstacle.
Moving forward with the survey results, more than 50% of payment executives surveyed believe that most merchants will accept crypto payments within 1 to 3 years.
Not only that, 27% of executives in the Middle East and Africa said most merchants will be crypto-friendly by 2024.