XRP representative John E Deaton feels that ETH is an alphanumeric code and as such the SEC labeling ETH as security is wrong.
“I’m not saying the gov’t shouldn’t go after bad actors. Going after individuals who broke the law is different”, he stated.
Deaton who is a former Marine-turned-class-action lawyer shared his thoughts on what SEC’s head Gary Gensler might do once Ethereum’s transitioned to PoS in September. He also addressed rumors of his supposed favoritism towards the SEC for going after ETH or its founders.
Recently, I was very critical of VitalikButerin over his childish and hateful comment about XRPHolders losing their rights for protection because Ripple executives described ETH and BTC as Chinese-controlled technologies 2 yrs ago when Ripple was being sued by the SEC.
He continued by saying even if he felt Vitalik’s comments to be “demoralizing and stupid”, that doesn’t mean that he would back the authorities attacking today’s ETH the way it has other tokens.
“Tokens like XRP, ETH, ALGO, ADA, XLM, etc., traded for 5-10 years should be treated as commodities, not securities”, he added.
XRP lawsuit- Ripple Would Spent $100M
The founder of the CryptoLaw, recently said that more than $15 billion were lost because the SEC “intentionally chose not to limit the allegations against Ripple to specific sales made by Ripple and its executives but instead alleged all XRP, including secondary market sales of the token, are unregistered securities.”
This was in response to a tweet from Messari CEO Ryan Selkis, who claimed that investors lost roughly $1 billion to crypto frauds last year and another $7 billion due to the SEC’s refusal for a spot ETF.
Selkis also cited statements by Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, who previously claimed that the firm would spend $100 million for its legal battle with the SEC.
Earlier, Stuart Alderoty, Ripple’s general counsel, criticized the SEC’s approach to consumer protection in a recent op-ed. Alderoty said that rather than protecting consumers, the SEC intends to leave them “holding the bag.”
He then went on to add that instead of working with other regulatory agencies, SEC Chair Gary Gensler has taken an assertive regulatory stance.