Ripple’s CEO Has  Declared the Release of Hinman Docs

Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of Ripple, recently tweeted that the eagerly awaited “Hinman documents” will be “well worth the wait”, alluding to their possible importance in the ongoing legal dispute between Ripple and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The Ripple Effect Of The Hinman Docs

The “Hinman documents,” are named in honor of William Hinman, a former director of the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance. They are said to shed light on the agency’s position on cryptocurrency regulation. In 2018, Hinman presented a ground-breaking claim which argued that due to their decentralized structure, Bitcoin and Ethereum were not securities under US law. However, some cryptocurrencies’ legal standing, such as Ripple’s XRP, has been less apparent, giving rise to ongoing legal disputes.

The Hinman docs are scheduled to be released in one day,  and Garlinghouse predicts that it will have been “well worth the wait.”

Garlinghouse responded on June 12 to a tweet from crypto YouTuber Jungle Inc. He stated that while he did not want to “overstep,” he believed that the records were worth the 18-month battle to have them unsealed. Stuart Alderoty, Ripple’s chief legal officer, also agreed with this view.

In the Hinman papers, internal SEC messages are discussed in relation to a speech given by William Hinman in 2018. As per Hinman’s remarks, while cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin BTC and Ether ETH may begin as securities, they may eventually resemble commodities if they become sufficiently decentralized.

The conclusion is especially important for the future growth of the crypto industry since the SEC has classified other crypto assets as securities. If the SEC prevails, cryptocurrency innovation would be delayed and will have to move outside of the US.

Many supporters of Ripple are of the view that the upcoming unsealing of the documents will be crucial in revealing further information on the legal standing of Ripple’s native XRP cryptocurrency.

The documents’ opening coincides with a very volatile period for the cryptocurrency market. Following a flurry of legal actions against the exchange, the federal court will hear the SEC’s demand to freeze the assets of Binance.US on June 13.

In December 2020, the SEC filed a lawsuit against Ripple. The SEC claimed that the sale of Ripple’s native XRP (XRP) cryptocurrency constituted an unregistered securities offering. Since then, Ripple has refuted claims that XRP is a security on the grounds that it does not pass the Howey test.

Pro-XRP lawyer John Deaton recently asserted that the presiding Judge Analisa Torres will probably render a judgment by September 30 of this year. This is despite the fact that several top Ripple executives had predicted that the rollercoaster lawsuit would soon come to an end.

Nancy J. Allen is a crypto enthusiast and believes that cryptocurrencies inspire people to be their own banks and step aside from traditional monetary exchange systems. She is also intrigued by blockchain technology and its functioning.

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