Pro-XRP lawyer John Deaton launches bid against Elizabeth Warren

After teasing a Senate bid last week, John Deaton launched a website over the weekend

February 20, 2024 09:56 am

Senator Elizabeth Warren | Evan El-Amin/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

Pro-crypto lawyer John Deaton officially launched his bid against Senator Elizabeth Warren for the Massachusetts Senate seat.

A website promoting his campaign went live over the weekend. Deaton will run as a Republican against Warren. He also launched a Facebook page for his campaign, alleging that Warren “gets nothing done” for Massachusetts.

Deaton, who founded and hosts CryptoLaw US, is a known pro-Ripple lawyer. CryptoLaw’s website includes blog posts and a news library focused on legal and regulatory updates in crypto.

He publicly called out Warren and Gary Gensler’s Securities and Exchange Commission for their treatment of the crypto industry, while also weighing in on the SEC’s cases against Ripple, Binance and Coinbase.

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Deaton filed a motion in 2021 to intervene on behalf of thousands of XRP holders in the SEC’s case against Ripple, arguing that their interests were not being represented in the case. Deaton also owned XRP.

Deaton teased a potential senate bid back in December when he asked his 300,000 X followers if he should buy a home in Massachusetts and run for senate.

“I’m not suggesting I would win, but how I would love to confront her,” he added at the time.

Warren is a vocal critic of crypto, previously claiming that crypto is widely used by terrorist organizations in the Middle East for funding. The claim has since been debunked by both blockchain analytics provider Elliptic and, just last week, the Treasury Department itself.

She also called out the SEC for approving a slew of spot bitcoin ETFs in January. She said that the regulatory agency was “wrong on the law and wrong on the policy.”

Warren’s currently pushing to tighten anti-money laundering rules concerning crypto. She reintroduced her Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Bill in October. 19 Senators support the bill, though it’s also faced criticism for potentially stifling innovation in the industry.

Deaton told the Boston Globe that, despite his crypto past, he’s “not running on crypto.”

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