XRP Lawyer Outlines Key Actions for New SEC Chair to Support Crypto Industry
John Deaton, a lawyer representing over 75,000 XRP holders in the ongoing Ripple vs. SEC case, has shared his strong opinions regarding Donald Trump’s nomination of Paul Atkins as the new SEC Chair.
Deaton laid out four critical actions he believes Atkins must take to effectively lead the agency and address concerns within the crypto community.
Deaton stressed that Atkins must act decisively to remove or demote certain individuals and eliminate the SEC’s crypto unit to demonstrate he’s the right choice for the role. He emphasized that failure to do so would undermine his credibility from the outset.
The four actions Deaton proposed for Atkins include:
- Removing the officials responsible for the mismanagement of the Debt Box case to restore credibility within the SEC.
- Demoting or firing individuals appointed by Gary Gensler, asserting that those selected by the previous SEC chair are not aligned with Atkins’ vision for the agency.
- Clearly defining the SEC’s jurisdiction to exclude decentralized finance (DeFi) and self-custody, which Deaton believes are outside the agency’s scope.
- Dissolving the SEC’s specialized crypto unit and consolidating efforts under a general fraud unit to better address all types of fraud.
READ MORE: FOMO and FUD Dominate Crypto Buying Decisions, Survey Finds
Deaton’s comments were in response to concerns raised by John Reed Stark, former SEC official, who revealed that Gensler had quietly promoted several key crypto-enforcement lawyers before leaving. Stark warned that these promotions could present challenges for Atkins, suggesting he would face significant resistance upon taking office.
Atkins’ nomination, however, has generated optimism in the crypto space due to his previous support for the industry during his tenure as an SEC commissioner. Many hope his leadership will bring a more balanced approach to regulation and enforcement.
Alexander Stefanov
Reporter at CoinsPress
Alex is Editor-in-Chief of Coinspress and co-founder of Millennial Media Group, with nearly a decade of experience covering financial markets - crypto first, then everything else. It started in 2016 with Bitcoin. Like most people at the time, he didn't fully understand it - so he kept digging. Blockchain, tokenomics, the projects, the cycles. That curiosity never stopped, and eventually pulled him into traditional markets too: equities, commodities, macro. Not because he left crypto behind, but because you can't properly understand one without the other. What drives him is straightforward: he wants to know why something is happening, not just that it's happening. Most market coverage stops at the headline - price up, price down, here's a chart. Alex finds that kind of reporting actively unhelpful. If you walk away from an article without understanding the mechanism behind the move, what did you actually learn? He holds a degree in Tourism from New Bulgarian University - not the most obvious path into financial markets, but markets have a way of pulling in people who are simply too curious to stay out. He has authored over 200 in-depth analyses and more than 10,000 articles across crypto and traditional finance. He still thinks every day in markets teaches him something new. That's probably why he hasn't stopped.
