Crypto lawyer rallies Ethereum investors in class action lawsuit against NYAG’s ‘securities’ label
Attorney John Deaton is launching a class action lawsuit against claims that Ethereum is a security.
Deaton Law Firm Managing Partner Link to a Google docs form for interested investors to sign up.
Ethereum Investors Feel the Heat
On March 9, New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit against KuCoin, alleging that KuCoin operates illegally in her state, including offering unregistered securities.
James called Ethereum, LUNA and TerraUSD directly as securities and asked the court system to determine the status of those securities.
Former SEC Director, June 2018 William Hinman He gave a speech stating his opinion that Bitcoin and Ethereum are not securities. The market interpreted this to mean that the SEC has given his two biggest cryptocurrencies the green light.
“Based on my understanding of the current state of Ether, the Ethereum network, and its decentralized structure, the current offers and sales of Ether are not securities trading.”
However, the ongoing SEC v. Ripple lawsuit has cast doubt on the fact that Ethereum is not a security. Fair Notice Defense claims that the XRP token is similar to Bitcoin and Ethereum, and without the Fair Notice there was no reason to believe that they violated securities laws through the sale of the XRP token.
Under questioning, Hinman said the speech was “intended to express my own personal views” and did not reflect the agency’s policy, opening the door to Ethereum’s securities status. He said he would leave it alone.
It was discovered that Hinman had a conflict of interest through his former employer, Simpson Thatcher, who is a member of the Ethereum Enterprise Alliance.
Featuring John Deaton
Deaton led a class action lawsuit against the SEC, alleging that the agency’s enforcement actions against Ripple harmed XRP investors. More than 70,000 people participated in the lawsuit.
Since the enforcement began, Deaton has played a key role in the execution of the SEC’s mandate. intervention To represent the interests of XRP holders in court.
A certain amount of animosity has formed between the XRP and Ethereum communities over the former’s perceived special treatment.Ethereum co-founder tweet Vitalik Buterin In December 2020, we summarized the situation.
“The Ripple/XRP team seems to have sunk into a new level of weirdness. They argue that Shitcoin should not be called a security for *public policy reasons* because Bitcoin and Ethereum are “under China’s control”.
But now that Ethereum is at the forefront, @thebearabebull I called it “perfect karma”.
Commenting on past grudges, deaton He framed the situation and his willingness to help the ETH community as operating on a united front against regulators.
he further clarified This is about helping people regardless of their affiliation with the crypto community.
“Sorry, some miss the point. I don’t care about the “ETH people” the same way I don’t care about the “Ripple people”.
