Deaton Distances Himself From XRP Buyback Proposal

Deaton says he has not asked anyone for money for his efforts on behalf of XRP holders.

Attorney John E. Deaton has made it clear that he has no involvement with Jimmy Vallee’s XRP buyback proposal, asserting that he will not accept money for his efforts in the Ripple and LBRY cases.

Deaton made this known in a Twitter thread yesterday. The remarks came in response to an excerpt from the proposed terms of Vallee’s XRP buyback that mentions making a payment to the attorney for his role in the US Securities and Exchange Commission case against Ripple as a friend of the court on behalf of thousands of XRP holders.

Reacting to the document making the rounds on Twitter, Deaton clarified that he has not and will not ask anyone for money for his work on behalf of XRP or LBRY Credits (LBC)  holders. In addition, he says he is not expecting payment and will continue to turn down offers of compensation. While the attorney admits that his efforts have come at a cost, he asserts that he is undeterred because he can afford to cover these costs and because it is the right thing to do.

“TO BE CLEAR: I HAVE ZERO EXPECTATION TO BE PAID!ALTHOUGH I TRULY APPRECIATE PEOPLE’S GRATITUDE FOR MY EFFORTS, I WILL CONTINUE TO TURN DOWN ANY AND ALL OFFERS REGARDING ANY FORM OF PAYMENT FROM ANYONE REGARDING MY EFFORTS ASSOCIATED WITH XRP or LBC,” Deaton wrote.

The XRP Buyback Theory

For context, Valhill Capital’s Jimmy Vallee proposed the XRP buyback theory in 2021. According to Vallee, XRP has the potential to become the reserve currency of the world as national debts reach unsustainable levels. 

Vallee posits that the world will have to move to a new financial system with a liquid and scalable digital asset backing it to restructure the current debt. According to the securities lawyer, this asset is XRP. However, he posits that for this to be possible, governments must hold large quantities of XRP, hence the buyback from retail.

This speculative theory finds precedence in the Bretton Woods Agreement, which created an international exchange system based on the US Dollar and gold. To do this, the government outlawed private ownership of gold, purchasing gold at a fixed rate from citizens.

Factoring the global wealth and XRP’s 100 billion token supply, Vallee places the fixed buyback rate for XRP between $37,500 and $50,000 per token.

It is worth noting that this theory remains entirely speculative. It remains to be seen why governments would opt for such a solution when they can more easily create a new asset at a lower cost. 

Notably, discussions surrounding the controversial theory have picked up again following a recent Vallee interview with Clever Hummingbird. In addition, Crypto Eri, an XRP influencer who is critical of the theory, shared proposed terms of the supposed deal that Vallee and a “confidential committee” had worked on in a tweet yesterday.

According to the XRP influencer, the Valhil Capital managing director was wrong to use Deaton’s name without his consent in a document addressed to government entities. While Vallee has accused Crypto Eri of leaking the document, the influencer has clarified that she is not the leak as it was made available on XRP Chat, an online XRP forum.

TO BE CLEAR
Term Sheet was PUBLIC on XRP Chat. Leak is in your committee.

NOT OK to use @JohnEDeaton1 name like this & send to GOV entities without telling him.

Share your commission, fine. Why not quietly? Using his name to influence others to support your scheme is wrong. https://t.co/kCyQOl5RKH pic.twitter.com/akKkh76O1v

— ?Crypto Eri 220k+ Followers (Beware of Imposters) (@sentosumosaba) February 4, 2023

Per the details, Valhill and committee members, if they manage to broker the deal, will get a share of $100,000,000.

Recall that Deaton had also previously dismissed claims that he is on Ripple’s payroll.