The SEC is wrong- The Cryptonomist

One step closer to a final ruling, Ripple’s lawyer John E. Deaton reiterated that the SEC is in error and overstating its winning of the case. The legal expert still maintains that XRP does not meet the requirements of the Howey test and is therefore not a security. 

Ripple: SEC’s chances of winning are overstated

As the never-ending “Ripple vs. SEC” lawsuit has almost reached its final round, Ripple’s lawyer John E. Deaton released his thoughts on the matter through a roundup of tweets. 

That’s not how a Howey analysis works and it certainly doesn’t make a token itself always a security no matter the circumstances.

People predicting the SEC will definitely win and that #XRP is doomed are overstating the SEC’s chances. The SEC’s allegations are stretched too far.

— John E Deaton (@JohnEDeaton1) January 16, 2023

Deaton reiterates that the SEC’s chances of winning are overstated and that the claims about the XRP token being a security following Howey’s analysis remains a problematic and difficult argument to make.

Not only that, the defense attorney and famous commentator on the case, Deaton, pointed to the 3,000 affidavits that show that the early purchasers of XRP were unaware of Ripple. 

In essence, these 3,000 amicus briefs submitted to the court revealed that users would have purchased it for non-investment reasons, receiving benefits from XRP completely independent of Ripple. 

Ripple and the latest hopes for victories in the case against the SEC 

In his tweets, Deaton touches on another topic that casts doubt on the alleged win by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, and that would be the testimony against XRP by an expert. 

Basically, that expert would have attempted to define the entire XRP community as a “joint venture” under the provisions of the Howey test. In this sense, the SEC expert would have understood a joint venture to mean when the investor’s profits are combined and dependent on the success of third parties or those selling the investment.

In this regard, Deaton calls these claims baseless because the expert would not have interviewed any XRP holders and the SEC did not include the expert’s position in its summary judgment.

In this sense, the blockchain company’s lawyer is hypeing back the last hopes of victory for Ripple, without assuming that the SEC is right about the case. 

The lawsuit arose after the SEC cited Ripple for raising more than $1.3 billion by selling unregistered securities in XRP tokens. The verdict in that lawsuit will affect the entire crypto market, especially in terms of understanding whether a token with the characteristics of XRP can be defined as security. 

The fluctuations in the price of XRP

Over the past week, it is possible to see how XRP holders and traders have been on edge, even without making any major maneuvers. 

And indeed, the price of XRP, between purchases and sales of the token, fluctuates continuously, albeit remaining above $0.38. 

At the time of writing, XRP is worth $0.3878, while in the past 4 days, the price had touched as high as $0.406. Admittedly, still far from last year’s $0.75, but well in line with the general trend of crypto assets, led by Bitcoin (BTC) which is now worth $21.313.