A new tweet by Coinbase Chief Legal Officer (CLO) Paul Grewal has sparked interest and speculations in the crypto community. The CLO expressed his appreciation to Ripple’s General Counsel, Stuart Alderoty, for their meeting, stating they needed to meet more often.

CryptoLaw founder and Ripple lawyer John Deaton said the SEC is “exploiting the legal uncertainty about crypto” to redefine what should be considered a security under the Howey test.

Pro-Ripple attorney and crypto lawyer John Deaton has sent an open challenge in response to the latest video message from Gary Gensler, the Chairman of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in which he reprimanded startups operating in the crypto ecosystem for falsely tagging their products as non securities.

Coinbase has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in an attempt to gain regulatory clarity for digital assets. XRP holders' lawyer in the Ripple lawsuit, John Deaton, showed support for Coinbase by referring to his own filings against the SEC. Deaton highlighted the Coinbase petition as his first writ of Mandamus was also against the SEC, and stated that this is the second writ of Mandamus filed which involves crypto. In his own lawsuit, Deaton sued the commission asking a court to order the SEC to perform its job, and asked the judge to amend Ripple's complaint to just include direct sales done by them.

Senator Eric Brakey has invited pro-XRP attorney John Deaton to testify at a bill that will authorize Maine State financial institutions to accept cryptocurrency deposits. Brakey has presented a bill, L.D. 990, to the Maine State Financial Service Committee, and the event will be held on April 4 and is open to the public via Zoom. Several industry experts have been lined up to testify and take crypto-related questions from the committee. An XRP enthusiast urged Senator Brakey to invite attorney Deaton for the testimony, and several XRP enthusiasts have backed the invitation, saying attorney Deaton is the most suitable person for the testimony. Attorney Deaton is among the stakeholders pushing for favorable regulations for the US crypto industry, and his testimony at the hearing could play a vital role in ushering in more friendly regulations for the asset class.

XRP community members have been questioning why Jed McCaleb, co-founder of Ripple, was not included in the ongoing SEC lawsuit against Ripple for allegedly offering unregistered securities in the form of XRP. Attorney John Deaton explained that McCaleb was exempted from the lawsuit because he is considered one of the industry players on "Crypto's Mount Rushmore" list, along with Bitcoin's pseudonymous founder Satoshi Nakamoto and Ethereum's Vitalik Buterin. Deaton added that McCaleb is also known as the "Teflon Don" of crypto. McCaleb received a share of 20 billion XRP in 2012, but left Ripple in 2014 due to a fallout with Ripple executives. He agreed to a lock-up plan for his XRP share to prevent a market crash.

As we approach a ruling in the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) case against Ripple, speculations about its potential implications on the price of XRP have soared. In a tweet yesterday, Attorney John E. Deaton, who represents thousands of XRP holders as a friend of the court in the extended legal battle, lent his voice to these speculations.

John Deaton, Amicus Curiae in the XRP lawsuit aimed to build a union against the US SEC’s enforcement.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lawsuit against Ripple Labs is not the only battle the company is currently fighting. In fact, there is a court case that has been under trial for a longer period of time: The class action lawsuit filed by XRP investors against Ripple Labs and CEO Brad Garlinghouse, which has been pending since November 2018.

Deaton believes such an outcome would not be unreasonable under the current SEC regime.