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Court Denies SEC’s Motion to Seal Hinman Documents
In what is widely seen as the most recent victory for Ripple, the court has decided against SEC’s motion to seal the Hinman documents.
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On Tuesday, Tuesday 17th, United States District Judge Analisa Torres ruled against SEC’s motion to have the controversial Hinman Documents sealed. The move comes as the latest victory for Ripple in its long-lasting legal battle against the Commission.
Court Decision to Keep Hinman Documents Unsealed
One of the longest-standing disputes in the SEC’s long-lasting legal battle with Ripple over its XRP token. The Commission initially sued the company over its cryptocurrency in 2020 alleging it constituted a $1.3 billion unregistered securities offering.
Over the previous year, the digital assets company has scored several victories against the SEC including in September 2022 when the Commission was ordered to hand the Hinman Documents to Ripple. Late last year, the SEC requested the documents be sealed nonetheless.
Finally, this Tuesday, United States District Judge Analisa Torres ruled against the Commission’s motion calling the Hinman documents “judicial documents subject to strong presumption of public access”. The documents represent the speech delivered by SEC Corporation Finance Division Director William Hinman in which he reportedly stated that ETH is not a security.
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Will the Legal Fight Between Ripple and the SEC End Soon?
Considering that the fight between Ripple and the SEC is the first occasion in which a digital assets company took the Commission to trial over the allegations of an unregistered securities offering, it isn’t surprising it has been watched closely by the digital assets community since the very beginning.
Over the course of the trial, Ripple has been receiving a great deal of support from the industry with numerous amicus briefs expressing their support for the firm getting filed. Recent months have delivered several major victories to the digital assets company and its CEO, Brad Garlinghouse, recently expressed his hopes the fight would come to an end within months.
The trial, as well as the recent developments in favor of Ripple, have seemingly emboldened multiple cryptocurrency firms similarly targeted by the SEC. On April 27th, responding to a Wells notice it received from the Commission, Coinbase expressed its willingness to itself take the watchdog to court if pressed.
Do you the decision not to seal the Hinman documents can help lead to a victory for Ripple? Let us know in the comments below.
Tim Fries
Tim Fries is the cofounder of The Tokenist. He has a B. Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan, and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Tim served as a Senior Associate on the investment team at RW Baird's US Private Equity division, and is also the co-founder of Protective Technologies Capital, an investment firm specializing in sensing, protection and control solutions.
