Reading 3 min Views 3 Published Updated
Ripple General Counsel Stuart Alderothy has called for an investigation into the motives that led former SEC official William Hinman to deliver his infamous 2018 speech.
Alderothy’s demand for an investigation came in a June 13 Twitter thread following the public release of the Hinman documents. The documents showed that Hinman’s speech was delivered despite warnings from other SEC divisions.
13/An investigation must be conducted to understand what or who influenced Hinman, why conflicts (or, at the very least, appearances of conflicts) were ignored, and why the SEC touted the speech knowing that it would create “greater confusion.”
— Stuart Alderoty (@s_alderoty) June 13, 2023
In a 2018 speech, Hinman argued that Ether (ETH) is not a security as a result of it becoming “reasonably decentralized” before clarifying what factors should be satisfied in making such a decision.
Alderothy claimed that, according to recently released documents, Hinman ignored warnings from other SEC officials that “his speech contained a fabricated analysis not based on law” and that the speech ended up sending confusing messages to the cryptocurrency industry as to what constitutes security paper.
Alderothy said unelected bureaucrats should only enforce the law, not try to create new ones, and added that “Hinman’s speech should never again be used in any serious discussion about whether a token is a security or not.”
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse joined Alderothy in his critique of the regulator in a June 13 Twitter thread, arguing that the decision to go ahead despite “such opposition” was “shameless.”
It’s absolutely unconscionable that a regulator – when presented with so much pushback on what he was about to say/how he compiled this fake “test” in the first place – decided to move forward anyway, and throw an entire industry into chaos. https://t.co/9qzKOiPWsA
— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) June 13, 2023
Speaking to Cointelegraph, pro-XRP lawyer and CryptoLaw founder John Deaton noted that he also believes the investigation is warranted, adding that the fact that Hinman called the speech an “ethereal speech” raises questions about what motivated the speech.
Related: Ripple CEO: Hinman Papers ‘Worth the Wait’
Deaton and Alderothy’s comments about Hinman’s motives seem to refer to Hinman’s alleged ties to the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance, an advocacy organization that seeks to encourage the use of the Ethereum blockchain technology.
Before and after joining the SEC, Hinman worked for the law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLC, which was a member of the Ethereum Enterprise Alliance.
AI Eye: Is AI a threat at the level of nuclear weapons? Why do all AI fields evolve at the same time, stupid puns