Deaton Dismisses Claims that He Has Insider Information About Ethereum ICO

Pro-XRP lawyer John Deaton has dismissed a widespread claim that he has insider information about Ethereum’s (ETH) initial coin offering (ICO).

Attorney John Deaton, a lawyer representing over 75K XRP holders in the SEC v. Ripple lawsuit, has taken to the X platform to refute claims about his knowledge of Ethereum ICO.

Nerayoff Puts Ethereum ICO in the Spotlight

For context, Ethereum’s ICO has been in the spotlight in the past few weeks. Last month, popular crypto advisor Steven Nerayoff attracted the attention of the broader crypto community after he disclosed the challenge of ascertaining the actual number of investors that participated in ETH ICO.

Nerayoff also made other claims, including the fact that he was targeted due to his knowledge of ETH’s early sales. After a series of discussions, Attorney Deaton pointed out that he had seen receipts proving some of Nerayoff’s claims.

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He also disclosed plans to bring Nerayoff on Crypto-Law TV to discuss the matter.

Deaton Refutes Claims

In a recent exchange, an XRP enthusiast said Attorney Deaton has the receipts backing the claims made by Nerayoff. However, Deaton refuted this claim, stating that he has only commented on the issue based on the receipts he has seen.

“People should not jump to conclusions that that means I’ve seen everything being referenced by everyone,” he warned.

Deaton referred to one of the receipts he saw, which proves that Nerayoff is an essential part of the Ethereum team. He added that the receipt contradicts previous claims made by Ethereum’s founders, Joseph Lubin and Vitalik Buterin, that Nerayoff’s role was insignificant.

I’ve commented regarding the receipts that I’ve seen. People should not jump to conclusions that that means I’ve seen everything being referenced by everyone. For example, I said I’ve seen documents that prove @StevenNerayoff was an essential part of the Ethereum team in 2014. I… https://t.co/ADscztEepp

— John E Deaton (@JohnEDeaton1) October 4, 2023

No One Can Identify Ethereum Disguised Whales 

Furthermore, Attorney Deaton said nobody knows the true identity of “Ethereum disguised whales” because KYC/AML rules were not required during the cryptocurrency’s early sales.

He shared a link to an old audio of Lubin allegedly assuring investors that Ethereum will not require “a real-world identity” during ETH ICO.

“A person can buy from any number of different identities. We may limit the unit size of a sale just to make it easier to disguise,” Deaton shared an excerpt of the audio.

Deaton Says He Has No Insider Information

Meanwhile, Deaton stated that he does not have any insider information. However, the lawyer highlighted five vital points he deduced from the audio.

Per Deaton, there is no disguised whale list from the Ethereum ICO. He added that having a list will defeat the purpose of being a disguised whale.

He noted that investors participated in ETH early sales using only email addresses. According to him, many of these addresses were created explicitly for the ICO.

In addition, Deaton speculated that no reputable law firm recommended the process of the ICO.

“Whatever note Joe had in his pocket before the ICO would not have recommended the course of action described in the audio tape,” he added.

Furthermore, Deaton said the only way to know the true identity of whales that received ETH during the ICO is to investigate the owners of the email addresses.

Lastly, he said if Lubin’s audio is accurate, it implies that William Hinman, former director of SEC’s Corporation of Finance, missed or ignored details about ETH ICO during his deposition in the SEC v. Ripple lawsuit.

To be clear: I have no insider information, but if the audio tape is accurate it would likely mean several things:

1) There is no disguised whale list. If there were, it would defeat the whole purpose of being a “disguised whale.”

2) There are only email addresses – many of…

— John E Deaton (@JohnEDeaton1) October 4, 2023