Ripple vs SEC: Hinman Documents Handed Over

Ripple has gained a small victory over the U.S. Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) as the latter was forced to give up the Hinman documents, which can help the crypto company prove its case that XRP is not a security. 

William Hinman’s Speech

The Ripple Vs. SEC legal battle has turned a corner as the regulatory body has finally handed over emails and other documents that will tremendously help Ripple’s case. The SEC had filed a lawsuit against the crypto company, alleging that the latter was trading securities illegally. The Ripple team has steadily been fighting the allegations, and it presented the case of a former SEC official who had declared that cryptocurrency is not a security. The documents, which have been dubbed the Hinman documents, include discovery material proving that the former Director of Corporation Finance, William Hinman, delivered a speech in which he claimed that Bitcoin and Ether are not securities. 

There is video evidence of Hinman stating, 

“Based on my understanding of the present state of Ether, the Ethereum network and its decentralized structure, current offers and sales of Ether are not securities transactions.” 

Ripple Finally Gains Access To Key Evidence

The documents have been a key piece of evidence for Ripple Labs, and the SEC has been hesitant to turn them over. Initially, in January 2022, Ripple won the right to request the documents. However, the SEC kept appealing to the court to deny the motion. Finally, on September 29, Judge Torres overruled the SEC’s objections to sharing the documents and ordered the regulatory body to present them. Ripple’s general counsel Stuart Alderoty revealed on Twitter that after several delays, the SEC had finally obeyed the court’s orders and handed over the documents. 

He tweeted, 

“Over 18 months and 6 court orders later, we finally have the Hinman docs (internal SEC emails and drafts of his infamous 2018 speech). While they remain confidential for now (at the SEC’s insistence), I can say that it was well worth the fight to get them.”

Ripple CEO Slams SEC

The CEO of Ripple, Brad Garlinghouse, has expressed his serious disapproval of the conduct of the SEC, claiming that the regulatory body has forgotten that it exists to protect the rights of the people. He tweeted that the SEC’s claims of fighting for transparency and the truth were false and appealed to the public not to put their faith in the agency. 

He wrote, 

“The SEC’s pursuit of a policy objective isn’t about ‘a faithful allegiance to the law’—it’s about power. There is no regard for those companies and people that this approach has harmed. We all should be outraged. The SEC has clearly forgotten that the government works for the people.”

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