Bill Hinmanās speech has been one of the most critical contentions around which the ongoing legal tussle between the SEC and Ripple has been resting. The former Director of the regulatory bodyās Division of Corporation Finance made a speech in 2018 at the Yahoo Markets Summit. Back then, he declared Ethereumās native token ETH not to be a security. Ripple clung to the speech, for it indirectly affirmed that XRPālike ETHāaināt security, for it exists on an open, decentralized, permissionless blockchain ledger.
Ripple had been seeking the documents relating to the speech for a reasonably long time, but the SECāon its partāhad repeatedly opposed producing them citing reasons like the breach of attorney-client privilege. InĀ mid-July, the judge quashed the agencyās claims and ruledĀ thatĀ āthe documents must be produced.ā
Nevertheless, the SEC opposed the judgeās ruling and had ārespectfullyā requested permission to file a 30-page opening brief and a 10-page reply brief in support of why it does not want to comply with the disclosure order.
However, post the latest court order, the Hinman documents have finally been turned over to Ripple.
Rippleās fight was āworthā it
Announcing the same, Rippleās General Counsel Stuart Alderoty revealed that the documentsācontaining internal SEC emails and drafts of his 2018 speechāhave been received after a waiting period of over 18 months and 6 court orders later. Even though the documents remain confidential for now, Alderoty asserted that āit was well worth the fight to get them.ā He added,
āI always felt bad about the SECās tactics, and I feel even worse about them now.ā
Crypto Law founder John E Deaton, on the other hand, went on to exclaim thatĀ ātruth can be hid for only so long.ā
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