A prominent lawyer, John E. Deaton, who supports XRP, believes the SEC and Ripple’s competitors teamed up against Ripple. He thinks this was a coordinated effort to damage the company and its cryptocurrency, XRP.
The SEC Lawsuit: Massive Damage
Deaton says the SEC’s lawsuit against Ripple caused immense harm. He argues that the lawsuit’s broad scope made it nearly impossible to accurately assess the damage to Ripple’s business.
Ripple’s Early Days and Strategic Choices
Deaton looked back at Ripple’s early days, recalling a big debate about whether to focus on smart contracts or payments. Interestingly, Vitalik Buterin (Ethereum co-founder) lived with Ripple’s CTO at the time, Stefan Thomas. Ripple chose payments, a decision Deaton defends given the lack of stablecoins and the huge potential of the global payments market. He points to the massive growth of cross-border payments – over $150 trillion in 2022, projected to hit $250 trillion by 2027 – as evidence of this market’s potential.
Early Successes and the SEC’s Intervention
Initially, XRP saw significant adoption. Coinbase listed XRP, promoting its use for international money transfers, and MoneyGram started using it. However, this changed dramatically when the SEC sued Ripple in December 2021. Coinbase delisted XRP, and MoneyGram switched to using XLM instead.
The SEC’s Actions: Conflict of Interest?
Deaton questions the SEC’s actions, highlighting the irony that XLM’s founder, Jed McCaleb, also co-founded Ripple. He calls the SEC’s complaint overly broad and suggests conflicts of interest, pointing out that individuals involved in the lawsuit later worked with Ripple’s competitors.
Deaton’s Motives and Conclusion
Deaton addresses concerns about his potential bias, stating that a large portion of his net worth is in Bitcoin, not XRP. He also notes that he’s been critical of Ripple in the past. However, he maintains that the circumstances surrounding the SEC’s lawsuit, including the apparent conflicts of interest, are troubling and warrant scrutiny, regardless of personal feelings towards Ripple.
(Note: XRP’s price at the time of this summary was $2.12.)/p>
