Deaton Asserts Hinman Instructed to Limit Questions to Seven for Ethereum Co-founder

Attorney Deaton reacts to a document making the rounds in the XRP community, highlighting seven questions Hinman asked Ethereum co-founders.

Pro-XRP lawyer John Deaton has reacted to a recent document relating to the controversial speech by former SEC director William Hinman.

Hinman Speech Controversy

For context, Hinman’s June 14, 2018, speech has recently stirred lots of controversy. Crypto enthusiasts, especially XRP fans, have been eager to know the motivation behind the speech that prompted Hinman to declare BTC and ETH as non-securities.

Following the release of Hinman docs, the crypto community gained insights into internal deliberations at the SEC leading up to the speech. As reported earlier, Hinman docs revealed that Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin was involved in consultations that birthed the speech.

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Buterin’s involvement came after top SEC officials kicked against declaring ETH as a non-security alongside Bitcoin. To alleviate these concerns, Hinman circulated a draft of his speech on June 4, 2018, stating that he would meet with Buterin to get a better understanding of Ethereum operations.

Recall that Hinman had met Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin months before meeting with Buterin.

New Document Regarding Hinman Meetings with Ethereum Officials Surfaces

As the controversy surrounding Hinman’s speech continues to be a major discussion, pro-XRP sleuth Mr. Huber drew attention to a document.

The document highlights seven questions that Hinman asked Buterin and Lubin during his meetings with them amid efforts to understand the Ethereum project.

Notably, the document relates to inquiries about the early days of Ethereum development, how the team makes decisions, and whether ETH’s value correlates with its utility, among others.

In a recent X post, Mr. Huber alleged that Lubin may have concealed the real identities of major Ethereum investors during the meeting. He noted that Lubin did not disclose investors’ identities, even after he signed a form, to tell the truth about ETH.

Lubin had to sign a form, that he was telling the truth to Hinman! I am pretty sure Lubin didn’t tell Hinman that he disguised all major investors in Ethereum so no one is scared (We have this on video). @JohnEDeaton1 @StevenNerayoff @EMPOWR_us @JsnFostr pic.twitter.com/yxgRwL1w8U

— Mr. Huber🔥🦅🔥 (@Leerzeit) October 16, 2023

In a follow-up tweet, Mr. Huber asserted that Buterin did not give honest answers to the SEC’s question about Ether holdings and the cryptocurrency’s mining power. 

Hinman specifically asked Buterin whether he was “familiar with any current concentrations – or lack of holdings of Ether, [as well as the cryptocurrency’s] concentrations of mining power.”

Hinman Ordered Not to Ask Any Questions Outside the Document

Reacting, Attorney Deaton pointed out that the second question was the most important of all seven questions in the document. The question tends to ascertain “the current role of the Ethereum Foundation.” 

According to Deaton, Hinman was either told or ordered that Buterin would not answer any other question outside the seven listed in the document.

Furthermore, Attorney Deaton urged XRP enthusiasts to draw comparisons between the June 4 drafted copy of Hinman’s speech and the final version of the remark in order to find out the missing component.

Number 2 was the most important of the 7 questions and Hinman was told, or ordered/directed, depending on your perspective, that @VitalikButerin would not discuss anything not related to these 7 specific questions. Look at the June 4 Draft of the Hinman speech – as it relates to… https://t.co/PmNZZa8yR4

— John E Deaton (@JohnEDeaton1) October 16, 2023