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- Pro-Ripple lawyer John Deaton dispels speculations about Ripple abandoning XRP, citing the company’s legal obligation and strong financial position.
- With regulatory clarity in the United States, Deaton believes it would be unwise to divest from XRP.
A lot has been going on within the Ripple ecosystem, especially after the firm’s victory in the XRP lawsuit against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). There’s been some chatter in the crypto community about whether Ripple could abandon XRP anytime in the future.
Pro-Ripple lawyer John Deaton cleared the air stating that there’s no way the blockchain firm would abandon XRP, the native cryptocurrency of the XRP Ledger. Deaton argues that Ripple has a legal obligation to not sell XRP, regardless of market conditions or regulatory scrutiny.
Deaton underscored Ripple’s financial evolution. In 2015, during its Series A funding round, Ripple held a valuation of $128 million. The subsequent year, in its Series B round, the company’s worth surged to $410 million. Fast forward to 2020, Ripple’s Series C valuation had skyrocketed to an impressive $10 billion. Then, in 2022, Ripple executed a Series C buyback, elevating the company’s value to $15 billion, marking a significant 50 percent increase from the prior year.
The lawyer emphasized that Ripple’s choice to repurchase its Series C shares at an elevated price during a challenging cryptocurrency bear market exemplified a robust vote of confidence in its future. This move transpired prior to major legal advancements, including the Torres Ruling.
As I’ve said for more than 3 years, Ripple is not going to abandon #XRP. It has a fiduciary duty not to.
Do the math:
2015: Series A valuation – $128M
2016: Series B valuation- $410M
2020: Series C valuation- $10B2022: Series C Buyback valuation – $15B
Last year, Ripple… https://t.co/xnMUqjcQS8
— John E Deaton (@JohnEDeaton1) November 2, 2023
As we can see, Deaton’s tweet was in response to the development which shows that the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) approved XRP under its virtual assets regime – allowing licensed firms in the Dubai International Financial Centre (@DIFC). Thus, they would incorporate XRP as part of their virtual assets services.
Ripple Has Massive XRP Holdings
Deaton’s calculation suggests that Ripple holds approximately 48 billion XRP tokens. Given the recent regulatory clarity surrounding XRP in the United States, the cryptocurrency attorney believes that divesting from XRP at this juncture would be “unwise”.
In his message on social media platform X, Deaton wrote: “Ripple’s pre-IPO’s shares clearly trade at a valuation significantly less than $15B. Owning 48B-50B #XRP make it insane to abandon #XRP. If #XRP reaches $2, Ripple has an asset valued at $100B. You get the picture.”
Note that XRP constitutes a crucial element of Ripple’s On-Demand Liquidity Services (ODL) which offers instant cross-border settlements over the XRP Ledger. In the latest development, Al Maryah Community Bank in the UAE is partnering with LuLu Exchange, an associate of Ripple’s On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) service, to facilitate cross-border money transfers and ensure real-time international payments.
Analyzing the price charts, XRP is displaying a bullish pattern. The cryptocurrency has surged by 32 percent since its September 2023 lows.
Notably, it continues to trade within the range observed on July 13, as depicted in the daily chart. Given that the bears failed to push prices below $0.46, the upward trend persists, and XRP could potentially revisit the highs seen in July at $0.93, with the potential to reach $1 or higher.
