John Deaton, an attorney and prominent member of the XRP community, is pushing back against allegations made by an investor in a long-standing lawsuit against Ripple.
Deaton has come up with a motion to file an amicus brief in the Zakinov v. Ripple case. Vladi Zakinov, the lead plaintiff in the case, claims that Ripple sold XRP as an unregistered security and is asking the court to certify a class of all XRP holders who purchased and now hold XRP or who sold XRP at a loss.
The proposed class would include XRP holders worldwide and include all sales of XRP, including secondary sales and international sales in countries where the controversial token has already been determined not to be a security.
Deaton will argue that the court should not certify the class due to conflicts among XRP holders and because only a small number of XRP holders claim XRP is an unregistered security, while many XRP holders believe that it should be regulated as one.
Deaton will argue that the small number of plaintiffs in the case cannot fairly represent the many who disagree with them, including XRP holders in places where XRP is not considered a security.
“Sorry, Zakinov doesn’t speak for me. When I first bought XRP, I was looking at what FinCen called it which they said it was a virtual currency. Thank you John Deaton for stepping in,” XRP investor Jeffrey Miller commented in a tweet.
The debate over whether XRP is a security has been ongoing for a long time and remains a contentious issue. The outcome of the Zakinov v. Ripple case could have a significant impact on the future of XRP and the broader cryptocurrency industry.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s own lawsuit, which alleges that Ripple violated securities laws with its XRP sales, gave the plaintiffs additional ammo in their own case against the controversial company.
“I’ll see you in Court,” Deaton tweeted.
