John Deaton Says XRP Community Helped Sway SEC Lawsuit Outcome

XRP tokenholders were a tipping element that helped secure Ripple Labs’ win against the US securities regulator, which ultimately ended last month when both sides agreed to drop appeals. 

The SEC sued Ripple in 2020, accusing it of selling the XRP (XRP) token as an unregistered security. Judge Analisa Torres ruled in 2023 that only some tokens could be considered securities and the case finally ended in August this year.

Now the dust has settled, crypto advocate and lawyer John Deaton said, “no credible person can argue” that the “XRP Army” didn’t make a difference.

“If they do they’re either ignorant to the facts and truth or intentionally lying. We have conclusive evidence that we made a difference,” he wrote on X.

Deaton is known for his advocacy for crypto investors, especially XRP holders, who he argued were not being represented in the SEC’s case against Ripple.

Ripple exec says XRP Army’s legwork invaluable 

Deborah McCrimmon, Ripple’s vice president and deputy general counsel, told The Penta Podcast in an episode on Monday that Deaton’s efforts and the XRP army gave the court visibility that the case “impacts a lot of people,” not just Ripple.

However, the work they put into the case, free of charge, also proved to be a game changer in the firms attempts to prove its key arguments.

Specifically, McCrimmon said Ripple was using the fair notice defense that the SEC didn’t give fair notice of the law, and how it had been enforced in the past.

“And so to support that, we were looking for speeches, talks, things the SEC or the government had said related to blockchain, crypto, XRP, Ripple, and the XRP Army mined that for us,” she said.

“We didn’t ask them to, but once they saw this defense in our in our answer, people started finding this. I could have paid lawyers thousands of dollars, literally thousands of dollars, to do that and yet they were finding it and posting it on Twitter, and that was tremendously helpful for me.” 

Judge cites affidavits in her decision

Deaton said there were over 2,000 exhibits filed in the court case, and in her final decision, Judge Torres cited his amicus brief and XRP holder affidavits.

“She ruled XRP itself is NOT a security while citing XRP Holder Affidavits. Had she not cited those things, people could legitimately debate whether our efforts made a real difference,” Deaton said.

“But the proof is in the decision itself. Often, people say one person can’t make a difference. I say: one person can inspire many people and together, they can make a difference.”

Deaton rallied XRP holders to submit affidavits and make testimonies in Ripple’s case, and over the years, the XRP Army lobbied, petitioned and coordinated social media campaigns to pressure regulators.