The International Congress of Blockchain Law Advisors (ICBLA) has announced the winner of its Cryptocurrency Advocacy Award, as well as a $5,000 cash prize.

The ICBLA Award recognizes individuals and businesses that have demonstrated dedication to defending cryptocurrency companies, and attorney John Deaton has played a major role in that effort, competition organizers announced.

By defending the interests of XRP holders in the Ripple case against the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Deaton is helping other crypto companies resist regulatory enforcement actions. According to ICBLA organizers, Deaton made an important contribution to the trial. Judge Analisa Torres ruled that XRP was not a secondary market security based on the findings of John Deaton, who acted as an independent expert.

“The Defender of Freedom Award is unique in the world of cryptocurrencies. This is a commitment to protect the very concept of the crypto space – the freedom to innovate, grow and change the international business landscape. John Deaton has created a new paradigm: federal judges are increasingly confronted with independent holders of crypto assets,” said ICBLA Senior Fellow Daniel Payne.

Deaton was also awarded for
series of tweets, dedicated to the fight against unfair actions of the SEC against crypto companies. According to the lawyer, he accepted this generous reward on behalf of the 75,000 XRP owners who are ready to resist the strong-arm methods of officials.

While receiving the award, Deaton again criticized the SEC for attempting to present evidence to the court without taking into account the views of XRP holders. The lawyer thanked subscribers for not allowing the agency to convince the judge of the correctness of the SEC’s arguments calling XRP an unregistered security. As the lawyer put it, the judge didn’t take this nonsense into account because the XRP community provided about 3,600 testimonies.

“The award I received is a testament to the collective spirit of the entire XRP community and its unwillingness to remain silent. Without you, all my efforts would be empty words. Therefore, I accept this award on behalf of all of you,” the lawyer wrote.

John Deaton recently published a list of countries with the largest number of XRP holders. Just over half of these are in the US, followed by the UK, Australia and Canada.