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On May 19, James K. Filan, a defense attorney and former U.S. attorney who has closely followed the SEC v. Ripple case for the past several years, shared an update on the possible release of the Hinman documents to the public.
According to a Twitter post, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Ripple Labs have filed “a joint one-week extension letter through June 13, 2023 to submit publicly available [отредактированные] version of the cross motions for summary judgment and related exhibits, including Hinman’s materials.”
“public, edited.”
— James K. Filan (@FilanLaw) May 19, 2023
The Hinman documents refer to a speech given in 2018 by former Securities and Exchange Commission finance director Bill Hinman. During the speech, Hinman expressed his opinion that ether (ETH) should not be classified as a security. These documents cover the SEC’s internal conversations and discussions related to this particular speech.
Some members of the cryptocurrency community consider the joint petition “weird.” Attorney Fred Rispoli, @freddyriz, tweeted a response to Filan’s statement; “This is weird to me. The parties have already discussed these revisions in detail for the first time. Maybe no more than what is written, but it’s just… weird. It gives me the feeling that something has changed and there’s a fight going on behind the scenes.”
This is weird to me. The parties already had detailed discussions on these redactions the first time around. Could be nothing more than what’s written but it’s just…odd. This gives me the feeling that something has changed and there is a scramble going on behind the scenes. https://t.co/MM0kndLvm9
— Fred Rispoli (@freddyriz) May 19, 2023
Related: Violation: Trial victory for Ripple as judge denies SEC motion to shut down Hinman papers
On May 18, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said in an interview with CNBC that the controversial regulations in the United States will likely force more crypto companies to move outside the country. Ripple itself is actively seeking to hire employees and invest overseas due to this regulatory uncertainty.
Garlinghouse’s comments to CNBC come just days after Ripple acquired Swiss blockchain storage company Metaco for $250 million. The acquisition should allow Ripple to expand its enterprise services to include storage, issuance, and settlement of tokenized assets. Ripple expects the institutional crypto custody market to reach $10 trillion by 2030 as many financial leaders plan to implement crypto custody solutions in the next few years.
