After the XRP lawsuit: Deaton reveals how industry leaders, SEC and competitors united against Ripple appeared first on Coinpedia Fintech News
John Deaton, a lawyer and XRP advocate, recently said that it is difficult to accurately measure the damage the SEC lawsuit against Ripple and XRP has done to Ripple’s business. When Ripple’s founders created XRP in 2012, stablecoins didn’t exist and the global payments market was wide open to innovation.
At the time, Ripple was deciding whether to focus on smart contracts or payments. Ultimately, Ripple chose to focus on cross-border payments, which he believes made sense given the size of the market and the lack of stablecoins at the time.
In 2019, Coinbase listed XRP and promoted it as a fast and cheap way to send money internationally. Later that year, MoneyGram started using XRP for remittances. However, just 18 months later, the SEC filed a lawsuit claiming that all XRP is an unregistered security, regardless of how it is purchased.
I do not believe it is possible to adequately estimate the damage to Ripple’s business caused by the broad nature of the SEC’s allegations against Ripple and XRP.
We must remember that when @Ripple founders created XRP in 2012, stablecoins did not exist and cross-border payments did not exist. https://t.co/eGailTGshP pic.twitter.com/UyX3KUycbW
— John E. Deaton (@JohnEDeaton1) December 31, 2024
After the lawsuit, Coinbase delisted XRP and MoneyGram switched to using XLM instead. But Deaton asks, is there really a legal difference between using XRP or XLM for payments? However, Jed McCaleb, the creator of XLM, is also the co-founder of Ripple. Deaton argues that the SEC’s lawsuit is too broad. He also points out that many of the people who promoted the lawsuit against Ripple later worked for Ripple’s competitors.
“However, there are concerns about how this lawsuit was filed, including massive conflicts of interest and the fact that the people behind the lawsuit supported or worked for competitors of Ripple/XRP. “If you look at the circumstances surrounding it, there’s no need to do that,” he concluded.
The Ripple vs. SEC saga continues:
The legal battle between Ripple and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has had a major impact on XRP since the litigation began in December 2020. The key moment came on July 13, 2023, when Judge Annalisa Torres ruled that XRP is not a security. It was an important regulatory decision. However, on October 17, the SEC filed an appeal challenging some of the ruling. The SEC has until January 15, 2025 to file opening briefs, which will keep the case in the spotlight.
