In an exciting development in the Ripple vs. SEC legal battle, attorney John Deaton has revealed evidence that casts doubt on the SEC’s “common enterprise” argument.
Deaton, a respected lawyer known for his work in the crypto space, has been actively questioning the SEC’s case against Ripple. Recently, he discovered Jaskaran Kambo, the creator of SpendTheBits (STB), a cryptocurrency payment app built on the XRP Ledger. Surprisingly, Ripple and its top executives were unaware of SpendTheBits.
SpendTheBits Supports Ripple
What’s interesting is that SpendTheBits filed a document called an amicus curiae brief to support Ripple in the lawsuit. Deaton believes this brief weakens the SEC’s “common enterprise” argument.
He thinks the judge might even refer to SpendTheBits’ brief when making a decision. He also believes that the amicus briefs filed by SpendTheBits and TapJets will undermine the SEC’s argument because the developers didn’t receive financial or technical help from Ripple.
“I think SpendTheBits and TapJets are the best examples that challenge the SEC’s common enterprise argument,” said Deaton.
SEC’s Confusing Logic Exposed
Let’s dig deeper into the SEC’s contradictory claims. First, the SEC said that Ripple itself was a common enterprise. But Ripple’s lawyers proved that XRP holders didn’t make money just by holding the cryptocurrency, and the SEC dropped that argument.
Next, the SEC changed its stance and argued that the entire XRP ecosystem—meaning all XRP holders, exchanges, and vendors—should be considered a common enterprise. To support this, they brought in an “expert” witness who claimed XRP holders relied on Ripple for profits. However, the judge threw out this testimony when Ripple presented 3,000 statements from XRP holders saying otherwise.
Now, the SEC is saying that XRP itself is the common enterprise, a move that Deaton calls a “schizophrenic defense.”
This evidence shared by attorney John Deaton challenges the SEC’s case against Ripple. As the legal battle unfolds, the outcome will have a significant impact on Ripple, the XRP cryptocurrency, and the crypto industry as a whole. Stay tuned for more updates on this important lawsuit.
Source: https://coinpedia.org/news/ripple-receives-boost-as-prominent-lawyer-exposes-weaknesses-in-secs-allegations/