Ripple vs. SEC: Hinman speech documents finally released to the public

The documents tied to the former director of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)’s Division of Corporation Finance from 2017 to 2020, William Hinman, were released to the public after Ripple requested the court to have them released.

In a speech made in 2018, Hinman suggested that according to him, bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum’s ether (ETH) were not securities. One of Hinman’s email read:

“We do not need to see a need to regulate Ether, as it is currently offered, as a security.”

RXP price jumps 7.4%

The price of XRP jumped 7.4% following the release of the documents. The price had, however, retraced to $0.5374 at press time, but was still in the green.

Although the price surge resonates with the nominal gains in the broader crypto market, XRP traders are betting bet on a favourable outcome for Ripple Labs in its ongoing Ripple vs. SEC lawsuit.

According to Ripple Labs, Hinman’s comments when he was at the helm of the SEC leadership indicate that XRP should not be viewed as a security, which could favour the payments company.

The SEC filed a lawsuit against Ripple in 2020 over claims that the company sold unregistered securities. Since its inception, Ripple has kept a distance between the XRP Ledger network and the token that powers some of its products, or XRP.