Tag: Ethereum speech

The Hinman Documents Reveal a Deceitful SEC

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By Roslyn Layton, PhD. June 13, 2023. (DC Journal).

In February, I filed a motion to intervene in SEC v. Ripple Labs, the first big crypto enforcement action filed in December 2020 by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). I have written two dozen stories about the serious implications of the case, particularly on the sweeping regulatory overreach at the heart of the SEC’s arguments and the naked power grab it represents.

The agency spent most of the last two years fighting Ripple’s attempts to obtain internal SEC emails and documents on the drafting of a 2018 speech given by then-Director of Corporation Finance William Hinman where he introduced a long list of “what we look at” when determining whether a digital asset is a security.

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Ripple accuses SEC of ‘shameful’ conduct after obtaining key Ethereum emails

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By Jeff John Roberts. October 24, 2022. (Fortune)

Ripple provided a lively end to an otherwise sleepy week in crypto when its CEO and general counsel took to Twitter to tweak the Securities and Exchange Commission after the company obtained confidential emails the agency had fought to keep secret. The emails concern a 2018 speech in which a former senior official at the SEC declared that Ethereum was not a security on the basis of a novel legal test—a test the agency chose not to apply when it sued Ripple in late 2020.

We still don’t know the content of those emails, but the fact that the agency fought hard to conceal them suggests they contain unflattering information related to the SEC’s erratic and arbitrary behavior when it comes to the crypto industry. Ripple’s executives, who have seen the emails, used even harsher language to describe the agency, saying “the shamefulness…will shock you” and implying it has been operating in bad faith.

Read the full article here.

Ripple vs. SEC: 189 Page Hinman Calendar Revealed Covering His Entire Tenure

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By Lele Jima. September 28, 2022. (The Crypto Basic)

Eleanor Terrett, a Fox Business journalist, shared some interesting information about the public calendar of SEC’s Bill Hinman, covering his entire tenure at the commission. 

“I have received a copy of Bill Hinman’s public calendar covering his entire tenure while at the @SECGov,” Terrett said.  

Some of the interesting details of Hinman’s public calendar include a series of meetings he had with Ethereum-related officials.

Hinman’s Meetings with Ethereum

According to Terrett, in the first two years of Hinman’s time in office, four meetings were scheduled with Ethereum blockchain software company ConsenSys and other officials related to the leading blockchain project.

On March 29, 2018, at 12:30 PM, Hinman had a scheduled meeting with ConsenSys and Amy Starr, an official of the SEC Corporation Finance.

A week later, the former SEC Corporation Finance director had a scheduled meeting with the title “ETH.” Another meeting dubbed “Ether” was also scheduled for Hinman on April 12, 2018, at 4:30 AM. On April 23, 2018, at 5 PM, Hinman had a scheduled meeting with Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin.

Read the full article here.