• The US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) ongoing lawsuit against Ripple has suffered a set back after a federal judge ruled that documents relating to the ‘Hinman emails’ must be unsealed for public access.
• These documents contain internal SEC deliberations about a speech given by former official William Hinman in 2018 stating that he believed Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) are not securities.
• Ripple believes the documents could reveal why the SEC has appeared to pick winners and losers in the crypto industry by declaring some crypto assets as securities and not others.
SEC Lawsuit Against Ripple
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) ongoing lawsuit against Ripple has taken a blow after a federal judge ruled that the public has the right to see documents which have been one of the most contentious issues of the lawsuit. U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres ordered that documents relating to the much-discussed “Hinman emails” be unsealed for public access.
Hinman Emails
The documents contain internal SEC deliberations about a speech delivered by former SEC official William Hinman in 2018 when he stated in his official capacity that he believed both Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) are not securities. Ripple says the documents are highly relevant and could reveal why the SEC has appeared to pick winners and losers in the crypto industry by declaring some crypto assets as securities and not others. The SEC had repeatedly tried to keep the Hinman documents out of the courtroom, but once Torres ruled they must be turned over, the SEC later filed a motion in December to keep some of its contents sealed from public view. This week, however, Torres denied this motion citing various case precedents.
Unsealing Process
Crypto attorney James K Filan says previous court orders indicate that these Hinman Documents will be made public by June 6th 2021 according to his estimates..
Initial Lawsuit
The SEC launched its initial lawsuit against Ripple Labs Inc., CEO Brad Garlinghouse,and Executive Chairman Chris Larsen back in December 2020 alleging that these parties have been selling XRP as an unregistered security for years now without following any legal regulations or protocols put forth by authorities.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it seems like we may soon get our hands on facts regarding whether or not certain digital assets such as XRP can actually qualify as securities or not due to this ruling made by federal judge Analisa Torres ordering for all internal documentation related to this topic be publicly available for all citizens very soon!