• The recently released Hinman documents in the ongoing Ripple v. SEC case have shed light on internal divisions within the SEC and raised questions about its motives.
• Crypto lawyer Fred Rispoli shared his thoughts on the recently released documents, stating that they show an agency more interested in expanding its jurisdiction than fulfilling its core responsibility of protecting U.S. investors.
• According to Rispoli, while cryptocurrencies may possess certain security attributes, their fundamental characteristics set them apart from traditional securities, requiring a different approach to regulation.
The Hinman Documents
The newly released Hinman documents relevant to the ongoing legal battle between Ripple and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have shed light on internal divisions within the SEC and raised questions about its motives.The Hinman documents pertain to internal SEC communications regarding a speech delivered by former director William Hinman in 2018. During the speech, Hinman said that Ether (ETH), one of the largest cryptocurrencies, should not be categorized as a security.
Ripple Case Raises Questions About SEC’s Motives
In an interview with Cointelegraph, crypto lawyer and founder of Hodl Law Fred Rispoli shared his thoughts on the recently released documents. According to Rispoli, they depict an agency prioritizing expanding its jurisdiction over fulfilling its core responsibility of safeguarding U.S. investors:“These documents are substantively bad for the SEC but the optics are even more damaging. Taken together, they demonstrate an SEC that is clearly more concerned with expanding its turf rather than its near-ninety-year mission of protecting US investors.”
SEC’s Office Of General Counsel Recognizes Crypto As “Other” Category
He explained further: “For example, one of the unredacted documents showcase that the SEC’s Office of General Counsel recognized that crypto likely falls into an ‘other’ category — it’s not a security because there’s no controlling group (at least in the Howey sense), yet, like many other things (medication, credit cards) there may be a need for regulation to protect purchasers.” The “Howey test” is a legal framework established by the U.S. Supreme Court in SEC v