Blog Archive

By Kristi Warner The government’s approach to remedies and bitcoin mining are similar examples of agencies utilizing tools at their disposal to attack the crypto industry.  Remedies In July 2023, the SEC lost in the Ripple case on the main legal theories – Judge Torres ruled that secondary market sales were not sales of unregistered… Read more: Government’s Attack Vectors

By Kristi Warner Since CryptoLaw launched in 2021, we have accomplished so much as a community. John started CryptoLaw as a reaction to “gross government overreach” – his goal was to build a trusted platform that people could turn to for news, updates, and analysis on legal and policy issues related to digital assets and… Read more: CryptoLaw: Looking Ahead

By John E. Deaton. It didn’t just take a village. It took an army of activists, lawyers and everyday citizens to demand, insist and even sue the Securities and Exchange Commission to be transparent. From the moment William Hinman got on that stage in San Francisco on June 14, 2018, to declare that Ethereum’s native… Read more: Hinman Investigation: The Chance for the SEC to Get Something Right

By John E. Deaton. Following Ripple’s victory in July, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) scrambled to save face by filing an appeal that fits their narrative. In August, the SEC sent a letter of intent to move for interlocutory appeal to Judge Torres. The letter outlined the agency’s intent to seek interlocutory appeal on… Read more: The Irony of Interlocutory Appeal

By John E. Deaton. The US Supreme Court issued the landmark SEC V. Howey decision in 1946, laying out a specific definition of what constitutes a security. Those justices couldn’t have guessed how complex digital commerce over encrypted lines of computer code would fit in almost a century later. The Securities and Exchange Commission under Chairman Gary… Read more: SEC Crypto Litigation Ventures Into Dangerous Legal Territory

By John E Deaton I started CryptoLaw to provide everyday investors with a “clearinghouse of information, news and analysis on key U.S. legal and regulatory developments for digital asset holders”. After the massive fraud at FTX was exposed, something that unfolded right under the nose of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), I am only… Read more: The FTX Scandal: Accountability and Regulatory Clarity Are What We Need Now

By John E. Deaton. I write to you on this public platform hoping you will truly understand the damage being inflicted on innocent holders of XRP. I represent 68,700 of those holders. We are users, developers, small businesses, content providers and investors in the digital asset XRP. In 2015, XRP became the first regulated cryptocurrency… Read more: An Open Letter to the Members of the House Financial Services Committee and of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

By John E. Deaton, Founder and Host, CryptoLaw. I believe we have reached a turning point in the fight against the Securities and Exchange Commission’s unfair and abusive treatment of XRP holders in its lawsuit against Ripple. So much evidence has come out in this case that exposes the outrageous actions of the SEC and… Read more: The Ethereum Free Pass, Fair Notice and the Fight Ahead

By John E. Deaton, Founder and Host, CryptoLaw. The apparent defeat over the crypto tax reporting measure in the infrastructure bill was a vivid warning.  The U.S. government doesn’t know what it’s doing on crypto, but it’s taking action anyway.  A $2 trillion economic sector is too ripe a target for a government that has… Read more: When We Face the Government, the Crypto Community Must Unify and Rise

By John E. Deaton, Founder and Host, CryptoLaw. Tomorrow (Thursday 7/15), Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn is scheduled to hold hearing to discuss whether to grant the SEC’s motion to quash the deposition of former SEC Division of Corporation Finance Director, William Hinman. The judge may even issue an order on this pivotal matter during tomorrow’s… Read more: The Hinman Deposition: A Review of What We Deserve to Know

By John E. Deaton, Founder and Host, CryptoLaw. The SEC’s lawsuit against Ripple has been flawed from its inception. But few claims in the suit are more egregious than the allegation that XRP lacks utility, or that every XRP holder has engaged in a “common enterprise” with Ripple. These two allegations combined with the SEC’s… Read more: The SEC’s Baseless Utility Argument Lacks Utility

By John E. Deaton, Founder and Host of CryptoLaw. Former SEC Director of Corporation Finance William Hinman continues his journey around the golden revolving door.  The man who helped take Alibaba public in 2014 as a partner at the Ethereum-connected law firm Simpson Thacher went into the SEC in order to give public regulatory clarity… Read more: Hinman’s Revolving Door Now Swings to Andreessen Horowitz

By John E. Deaton, Founder and Host of CryptoLaw. You would think that blatant government corruption and self-dealing was the stuff of a Hollywood movie, but when you peel back the layers of the Ripple case, examine its origins, and review key facts related to some of its central figures at the Securities and Exchange Commission,… Read more: Was there corrupt intent at the SEC?

By John E. Deaton, Founder and Host of CryptoLaw. Five months ago, almost to the day, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit against Ripple but made it clear it was coming after everyone connected to XRP.  They ignored warnings that this lawsuit would cause serious harm to countless people.  There was never one… Read more: The SEC Raised its Fist and Showed Its Contempt for Us. Today, We Answered.

By John E. Deaton, Founder and Host of CryptoLaw The SEC’s attack on Ripple has been a case against all XRP transactions from 2013 to the present day.  That is not only the clear message of the SEC’s complaint, but also in the precedence of its attacks on other digital assets.  Judge Sarah Netburn caught… Read more: The SEC Is Misleading the Court. Every XRP Holder is a Target.

By John E. Deaton, Founder and Host of CryptoLaw. Today I filed a pre-motion letter to Judge Analisa Torres to share the reasons why we are asking to intervene in the SEC v. Ripple case. Among other topics, the letter addresses why we should be allowed to intervene in the case and establish our interests… Read more: A Letter to Judge Torres – signed by 10,000, and counting…

By John E. Deaton, Founder and Host, CryptoLaw. On December 22, 2020, former SEC Chairman Jay Clayton directed the filing of the most significant SEC enforcement action in modern history on his last day. The SEC complaint named defendants Ripple Labs, along with, co-founder Chris Larsen and CEO Bradley Garlinghouse. The SEC action against Ripple and… Read more: The SEC said everything will be decided in New York. So, here we come.

By John E. Deaton, Founder and Host, CryptoLaw. The law doesn’t require a CEO to be clairvoyant. It does not require him to “guess” that maybe 7 years later the SEC “might” consider XRP a security. Today, counsel for Ripple Labs CEO Brad Garlinghouse sent a letter to U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres anticipating a Motion… Read more: Garlinghouse Rejects SEC’s demand for clairvoyance. Mic-drop motion to follow.

By John E. Deaton, Founder and Host, CryptoLaw. Today’s confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate Banking Committee for Gary Gensler to be the new chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission was the first chance to pose direct questions about the future of crypto regulations in the United States.  Three senators posed questions of interest to… Read more: Gensler Hearing Wrap Up: Who is really being protected by SEC “investor protections”?

By John E. Deaton, Founder and Host, CryptoLaw. The U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs will hold a hearing today at 10:00am E.T., on the confirmation of Gary Gensler to Chair the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Every digital asset holder in the U.S. must understand that the next SEC chair will be… Read more: The Gensler Confirmation Hearing: Two things for you to do

By John E. Deaton, Founder and Host, CryptoLaw Two months ago, I made the decision to stand up for cryptocurrency holders who have been wrongly harmed by public officials who are sworn to protect the interests of investors.  In connecting with so many holders of XRP and other digital assets, I’ve seen the growing interest… Read more: CryptoLaw is Live! Crypto holders deserve to be informed.