XRP representative in the Ripple Vs SEC lawsuit, John E Deaton stated that the summary judgment could be anytime, as he sees no reason for further delay.
Attorney Deaton who is also the founder of a law firm and a prominent member of the XRP community is acting as an amicus [filed a motion to intervene as a “third-party defendant”] in the ongoing legal dispute that has gained tremendous limelight.
Judge Analisa Torres recently made an initial ruling to both SEC and Ripple which many assumed was the summary judgment, but it was not.
In fact, no side gained nor lost because the judge partially granted and partially denied “Daubert” motions, which are requests by both parties to have expert testimony excluded from summary judgment.
But, in another significant development, Torres approved Ripple’s motion to exclude testimony from a purported expert witness called by the SEC while rejecting the regulator’s request to withdraw John E. Deaton’s amicus status.
The above ruling is undoubtedly a big setback for the SEC’s efforts, as the top regulator so far had difficulty proving that buyers of XRP had a realistic expectation of profit.
Not long ago, Deaton shared a series of Twitter threads on his official page, where he claimed that the 12,600 XRP holders who joined the motion in 2021 have increased to more than 75K in 2023:
Technically, it was 12,600 XRPHolders who joined the motion to intervene [today the putative class is more than 75K]. But think about the motion to intervene:Thousands of retail digital asset holders asked a Federal Judge to make them actual defendants in a case!
XRP Lawyer Recalls The Past, Ripple’s Report
Notably, Deaton’s tweets came after YouTuber Richard Heart comments, who referred to the XRP case as an instance for filing an amicus brief or motion, where he said:
“Everyone is virtually attacked by bad precedent and everyone wants the best arguments heard. Win together”.
In response to the YouTuber, Deaton reflected on the backlash he received at the beginning for filing the “unlikely” motion when many people including several prominent lawyers called him “crazy”.
That being said, the outcome of the highly publicized lawsuit has the potential to drastically impact the token’s economics.
Not long ago, Ripple published its Q4 2022 Markets Report, revealing that it had processed $226.31 million in net XRP sales in that quarter alone.