John Deaton has praised 75,000 XRP holders for supporting Ripple during its long legal battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), saying their involvement helped the company stand firm instead of accepting an early settlement.
In a July 12 post, the crypto lawyer highlighted the decisions made by Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and executive chairman Chris Larsen, who chose to continue fighting the case despite the high legal costs. Deaton said the support from XRP holders played an important role in helping Ripple resist pressure during the lawsuit.
The comments came after Ripple co-founder David Schwartz shared that some outside lawyers once believed the company had little chance of surviving the SEC case. Schwartz said the decision to personally name Garlinghouse and Larsen in the lawsuit could have pushed them toward individual settlements.
Garlinghouse has previously said Ripple spent around $150 million defending itself and protecting hundreds of jobs instead of giving up.
During the case, Deaton represented XRP holders as an amicus, allowing him to present arguments on behalf of people who owned or used XRP. The group argued that XRP purchases on public markets should not automatically be treated the same way as Ripple’s direct sales to institutions.
XRP holders also provided information about why they purchased the token and how they used it. Ripple later said that community members contributed research and records that helped reduce legal costs.
However, the court did not decide the case based only on the actions of XRP holders. Their involvement was one part of a larger legal process that considered Ripple’s sales, marketing activities, and investor expectations.
Deaton also criticized the SEC’s earlier attempts to obtain personal financial records from Ripple executives, calling the requests excessive. However, those statements represent his opinion and were not official findings from the court.
The Ripple case ended with a mixed outcome. In 2023, Judge Analisa Torres ruled that Ripple’s public exchange sales of XRP did not qualify as securities transactions under the circumstances of the case, while institutional sales did violate securities laws.
The court later ordered Ripple to pay a $125 million penalty and issued an injunction. Both Ripple and the SEC eventually dropped their appeals in 2025, leaving the final judgment in place.
While Deaton views the outcome as a major victory for Ripple and XRP holders, the final ruling was a combination of wins and losses for both sides.
