Ripple CEO Celebrates Transparency Victory as Hinman Emails to be Unsealed

CEO Brad Garlinghouse announced another win for transparency, with a court ruling that the unredacted emails of former SEC official William Hinman will soon be publicly available.

“Stay tuned as the lawyers work through the mechanics to make that happen,” Garlinghouse commented. 

This revelation comes amid the ongoing lawsuit between the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Ripple, which revolves around whether XRP, Ripple’s native cryptocurrency, should be classified as a security.

The ruling, issued by Judge Torres, denied the SEC’s motion to seal the Hinman documents, an action hailed by Garlinghouse as a significant stride toward transparency.

The legal tussle has seen Ripple pushing back against the SEC’s claims, arguing that XRP is not a security and should not be subject to the same regulations.

The Hinman emails could potentially shed light on the SEC’s internal discussions and viewpoints on the matter, which have been under scrutiny.

The court’s ruling includes several other notable decisions. The SEC’s motion to seal was denied regarding the Hinman speech documents but granted for its other requests. Ripple’s motion to seal was also denied for specific references linking Ripple’s revenues with XRP sales, among other matters. Third-party motions to redact identities and the names of public cryptocurrency trading platforms were denied, marking another win for transparency in the case.

This legal win appears to have buoyed investor confidence, with XRP up 7.1% in the past 24 hours. Although Ripple’s legal troubles are far from over, this recent development could prove to be important in shaping the narrative around the SEC’s allegations and the wider conversation on the regulatory landscape for cryptocurrencies.