Ripple Lawsuit Decision Now More Significant Than Ever, Crypto Lawyer Says Why

XRP holders’ attorney John Deaton has pointed out a big reason why the Ripple lawsuit decision has become increasingly important as the day goes by. Deaton believes that Judge Torres’ anticipated decision will have ramifications for the whole crypto business.

Back to what triggered Deaton’s comments, Scott Melker, alias “Wolf of all streets” on Twitter, noted in a tweet that the four assets being traded on the EDX markets are what SEC chair Gary Gensler has called commodities in the past.

EDX Markets, a new crypto exchange and institutional-only exchange backed by firms including Citadel Securities, Fidelity Digital Assets and Charles Schwab Corp., launched in the past week and will provide trading in four cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash.

Melker pointed out the need for the crypto industry to take a proactive step in fighting against the SEC’s onslaught, adding that if this is not done, Americans may be left with only BTC, ETH, LTC and BCH to trade on exchanges solely run by Wall Street. 

Deaton responded to Melker’s tweet by saying this is why Judge Torres’ ruling in the Ripple lawsuit is becoming potentially more significant as each day passes. 

Judge Torres’ decision gets potentially more as each day passes. If it’s bad for XRP (notice I said XRP and not Ripple), then status quo with more political momentum to Gensler, Warren, Brad Sherman’s anti-crypto campaign. But if it’s great for XRP then great news for other…

— John E Deaton (@JohnEDeaton1) July 1, 2023

The CryptoLaw founder analyzes two outcomes and their possible implications for the crypto industry. If the Ripple case results in a good judgment for XRP, it will be wonderful news for other coins. If the outcome is negative for XRP, the status quo will be maintained, and the SEC’s enforcement agenda might further accelerate. 

Since his first year in office, SEC chair Gary Gensler has maintained that most cryptocurrencies fit the definition of securities and that cryptocurrency exchanges must register with the SEC.

Last month, the SEC roiled the crypto market by filing lawsuits against the two biggest crypto exchanges, Binance and Coinbase. The lawsuits named cryptocurrencies such as Cardano (ADA), Solana (SOL), Polygon (MATIC) and others as “securities.”

In a recent tweet, Deaton shared the progress made so far in the industry’s defense as regards both lawsuits. He noted that over 2,000 token-holder customers have signed up as potential amici curiae. The CryptoLaw founder stated that the action was crucial not to help Coinbase or Binance but to disallow the SEC to build grounds for its claim of protecting customers through the lawsuits.