Pro-XRP Lawyer Says SBF Conduct Has “Nothing to do With Crypto”

Pro-XRP lawyer John Deaton believes Sam Bankman-Fried’s (SBF) conduct has “nothing to do with crypto.” 

The month of October was eventful with the trial of Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) occupying the central theme. More industry permutations are now flying from industry insiders on what the concluded trial means for the industry.

SBF Conduct and Crypto

The comment from Deaton came in response to a post from Scott Melker who presented the performance of SOL which has been on a bullish trajectory to retest the pre-FTX collapse level. 

Before the collapse of the FTX Derivatives Exchange, the price of Solana was pegged at about $36 on November 6. The collapse created a deep plunge that created a long-drawn dip that saw the coin drop to a low of $9.65 on December 30, 2022. 

The FTX implosion and Solana collapse are hinged on the premise that the trading platform has a significant stake in the crypto project. With sustained developmental efforts, marked by a series of hackathons labeled “Grizzlythons” and the launch of its mobile phone dubbed Saga, Solana has been charting an upward motion from that Year-to-Date (YTD) low.

Today, Solana is changing hands at $40.98, up 13.95% in the past 24 hours and effectively surpassing the pre-FTX collapse level. With the price outlook, Scott Melker said the impact of SBF is now officially irrelevant.

John Deaton aligns with this statement, noting that SBF was actually in crypto for the power play and not because he truly believed in the power of the technology underpinning the industry’s technology.

What Comes Next for SBF?

With the trial over, the case is now set for Jury deliberations as the ecosystem awaits the fate of Sam Bankman-Fried. The witnesses paraded by the prosecution team including Alameda Research’s former CEO, Caroline Ellison, FTX co-founder Gary Wang, and Engineer Nishad Singh admitted to the crimes they committed while with the firm, but at the behest of Bankman-Fried.

In his defense, SBF attempted to shift the blame to his former allies in an attempt to sway the Jury. 

John Deaton has always been vocal against SBF Conduct and he believes his defense is not to get a complete acquittal. He said the plan may be to convince just one of the Jury in a bid to significantly lower his sentence to about 10 years.