John Deaton, the lawyer deeply involved in the Ripple case against the SEC, shares new insights into the case.
Summary
- John Deaton shared new details from Ripple’s battle with the SEC
- He argued about the difference that the volunteers in the XRP community made
- Ripple’s VP Deborah McCrimmon admitted that volunteers saved the company millions
The XRP community may have made a significant difference in the Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit against Ripple. On Wednesday, Sept. 3, John Deaton, a lawyer who became a voice for XRP holders during the case, revealed just how impactful the community was.
“No credible person can argue that the XRP Army didn’t make a difference in the Ripple case. If they do they’re either ignorant to the facts and truth or intentionally lying,” John Deaton said.
Deaton stated that there was “conclusive evidence” of the community’s impact, both during the trial and in the ruling. Specifically, the judge cited his amicus brief and affidavits from several XRP holders in her ruling that XRP was not a security when traded on secondary markets.
No credible person can argue that the XRP Army didn’t make a difference in the Ripple case. If they do they’re either ignorant to the facts and truth or intentionally lying. We have conclusive evidence that we made a difference. There were over 2K exhibits filed in the case. In… https://t.co/WK2MfOb6wS
— John E Deaton (@JohnEDeaton1) September 3, 2025
The proof, according to Deaton, was in the decision itself, and it shows that any individual can make an impact, no matter how small.
Ripple VP confirms the role of the XRP army
Deaton’s comments were echoed by Deborah McCrimmon, Ripple’s vice president and deputy general counsel. In a Sept. 2 interview on the Penta Podcast, she revealed that members of the XRP community actively contributed valuable work to the case. This volunteer work saved Ripple “millions” in legal fees, she explained.
“We didn’t ask them to, but once they saw this defense in our in our answer, people started finding this. I could have paid lawyers thousands of dollars, literally thousands of dollars, to do that and yet they were finding it and posting it on Twitter, and that was tremendously helpful for me.”
