XRP holders’ attorney and founder of CryptoLaw John Deaton has issued a call to action to Ethereum (ETH) holders in the wake of a recent lawsuit filed against the Kucoin exchange by a New York state regulator.
Letitia James, the New York attorney general (NYAG), filed a lawsuit against KuCoin, a cryptocurrency exchange based in the Seychelles, on Thursday, alleging that the company sold unregistered securities in violation of the law. Ethereum was one of the unregistered securities named in the lawsuit.
Agencies such as the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have long regarded ether as a commodity. The cryptocurrency market would be greatly affected if Ethereum were labeled a security, which would fundamentally alter how cryptocurrencies are traded in the United States.
John Deaton believes that Ethereum is not a security. He adds, “Had the SEC claimed ETH was a security, I would’ve acted just as I did over XRP. These regulators are out of control. Retail holders need to speak for themselves.”
He offers Ethereum holders a call to action: “If you are an ETH holder and want to fight back sign up below,” referring to a link to a document titled “Ethereum is not a security class action.”
The CryptoLaw founder has stated many times that Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP are all alphanumeric sequences, or software codes. He has also often mentioned the fact that just because an asset could be packaged, sold or marketed as a security does not make the underlying asset one.
Jeremy Hogan, an attorney who has followed the Ripple SEC lawsuit closely, was not too surprised at the recent Kucoin lawsuit, as he said that the warnings of “securities” dangers inherent in Ethereum’s migration to proof of stake, or ETH 2.0, were made about a year ago.
