Crypto legal expert claims the $20M settlement is a 99.9 percent victory for Ripple

By: Mark Jessy

November 6, 2023 8:12 AM

Deaton emphatically denied that the litigation resulted in a 50/50 split for the SEC, arguing that it was more like a 90/10 split in favor of Ripple.

John Deaton, a well-known cryptocurrency attorney, has provided insights into the dispute between Ripple and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). He believes a settlement of $20 million or less would be a huge legal victory for the corporation.

Deaton recently made a post on X (previously Twitter) in which he vehemently denied the premise that the SEC's case result was a 50/50 split, instead asserting that Ripple has a 90/10 lead. Stuart Alderoty, Ripple's chief legal officer, posted a blog entry citing yet another legal setback for the SEC, which sparked Deaton's remarks.

The cryptocurrency community, which sees the proposed $20 million settlement as a win for Ripple, shares Deaton's perspective. This assessment takes into account the likely outcomes of the XRP case as well as the broader regulatory landscape for digital currencies.

Stuart Alderoty's tweet adds to the plot by noting that the SEC suffered another defeat this week, extending a string of failures. According to Alderoty, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit concluded in the case of the SEC vs. Govil that the SEC cannot obtain a high disgorgement amount without first establishing actual financial injury to "investors." In essence, it means that if no harm is done, there is no penalty.

The SEC filed a suit against Ripple Labs in December 2020, alleging that the company had sold XRP, its native cryptocurrency, in an unregistered securities offering.

When Judge Analisa Torres found that the asset was not a security when exchanged on the secondary market, a precedent was formed. Furthermore, the allegations against Ripple executives were lowered, which resulted in major changes to the case.

Meanwhile, Torres just signed an order approving the SEC and Ripple's combined proposal to set a briefing schedule for institutional XRP sales. This is the section of the XRP lawsuit in which the business was found to have violated securities laws. Torres directed the parties to provide a unified briefing schedule by Nov. 9.