The crypto-verse isn’t new to lawsuits. The lack of recognition and knowledge about the crypto market has got several promising projects in legal trouble. In early 2021, the community witnessed a high-profile case that completely disrupted the dynamics of a prominent crypto asset. As the case prolongs, the drama surrounding it also followed suit.
Quick backstory
American financial watchdog, the Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC] slapped Ripple with a lawsuit. Labeling XRP a security, the SEC alleged that Ripple carried out unregistered sales of security. The case has been going on for a while now and none of the parties were trying to settle.
While the case has a lot of people involved, prominent attorneys have been representing the higher-ups. The XRP community also plays a pertinent part in the case and representing the entire community was crypto lawyer, John Deaton.
Deaton has time and again laid out an argument regarding the Ethereum network. The crypto lawyer reportedly failed to understand how ETH attained a free pass but XRP continued to suffer the wrath of the SEC. This, however, came off as if he was attacking or criticizing the cryptocurrency.
In his latest thread of tweets, Deaton explained how ETH holders attacked him for bringing up the cryptocurrency, amidst XRP’s case. While pointing out that XRP was not a security, he suggested that ETH wasn’t one too. Regardless, he noted that the judge involved in the case assessed that the analysis of both BTC and ETH was essential to the court.
He added,
“Thus, we must make comparisons. I strongly believe we cannot allow a narrative to be developed minimizing our frustration, outrage and efforts as “sour grapes” just b/c #ETH got a free pass and #XRP didn’t. Trust me, that’s exactly what our detractors will attempt to do.”
In an attempt to clear the air, the crypto lawyer further suggested that he wasn’t trying to instigate the SEC to go after ETH or any particular entity. He was rather focusing on achieving regulatory clarity for XRP.
Crypto lawyer Deaton’s reason behind HODLing Ethereum
In the same thread, Deaton revealed that he was not only holding Bitcoin but also possessed ETH. This came as a shock to many as he went after ETH for quite some time. The crypto lawyer also noted that he received DMs from the community expressing disappointment. They were reportedly wondering why Deaton still hadn’t sold his ETH despite being against the altcoin.
Elaborating on the reason behind this he tweeted,
Furthermore, the crypto lawyer addressed “tribalism” and implied that the common enemy was the SEC as they lacked clarity about the crypto-verse. He further added that he’d have XRP or ETH considered a “bad investment” because of better alternatives or technical issues instead of “greed, insider self-dealing, or b/c some political appointee saves face.”