The long-drawn legal battle between the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Ripple Labs appears to have no end as the regulator scores another win against the blockchain firm.
SEC to Edit Two Drafts of Hinman’s Document
Following Judge Sarah Netburn’s greenlight, the commission will censor part of the 2018 Hinman speech.
The Hinman documents have been a point of contention between Ripple and the SEC for some time. For emphasis, the Hinman speech is named after William Hinman, a former SEC official. The documents concluded that XRP, Ripple’s native token, is not a security.
On October 21, 2022, the SEC filed a request proposing two redactions before releasing Hinman’s documents. Per the agency, the two suggested edits contain discussions on the commission’s issues.
Upon reviewing the SEC’s filings, Judge Netburn approved the commission’s request to effect two redactions to Hinman’s documents. Magistrate Netburn ruled that:
“The plaintiff’s request for time to make some specific redactions is approved, and the agency can carry on with its action as ordered.”
How Hinman Became Involved
William Hinman was a former head of corporate finance at the SEC. He made a controversial statement in June 2018, which brought him to the public’s consciousness. Hinman declared that Ethereum and Bitcoin are commodities because they had already decentralized their ledgers before the regulator moved to oversee the crypto industry.
Also read:However, Ripple has demanded that the SEC surrender the draft document of the Hinman speech after being charged by the regulator for offering unregistered security coins. For its part, the agency was unwilling to hand over the documents to the crypto exchange.
After more than ten months in court, the commission handed over the documents to Ripple. Meanwhile, all the internal memos and drafts in the documents are entirely sealed. Days after handing over the documents to Ripple, the SEC has now received the go-ahead to censor two of the famous Hinman drafts.
Hinman Speech And The Crypto Industry
The crypto market has taken Hinman’s speech to heart despite claims from the SEC that it was its former official personal opinion. For Ripple, the speech has already concluded that XRP is a commodity, not a security.
Following Hinman’s remark, the crypto exchange has met with key decision-makers at the SEC to reach an agreement on XRP’s status. However, the SEC’s decision to file a lawsuit against Ripple in December 2020 felt like a hammer on Ripple and the entire digital asset industry.
The industry sees the SEC’s action as pushing for enforcement through threats. In addition, they argue that the SEC of trying to bully and crush crypto activities in the United States in the name of regulations.
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