Ripple: Judge Rules That SEC Cannot Seal Hinman Docs from Ethereum Speech – Is This the Turning Point and Big Win for XRP? Report

The XRP community had something to celebrate after District Judge Analisa Torres ruled the famous Hinman documents can be made public. Hinman’s documents implicate the SEC agency of a double standard without a proper regulatory framework on digital currencies. Moreover, the current SEC Chair Gary Gensler has argued that all digital assets apart from Bitcoin are unregistered securities

In 2018, William Hinman, the former Director of Corporation Finance at the SEC, delivered a speech at the Yahoo Markets Summit that stated Ethereum is a non-security despite holding an Initial Coin Offering (ICO)

Ripple Wins Over SEC on Hinman’s Documents

After the Judge was briefed by both parties on the standings of XRP programmatic sales to investors, the Ripple community has been eagerly waiting for the final ruling. Furthermore, the company has ostensibly spent nearly $200 million fighting the SEC, which is a government-funded regulatory agency. In the latest SEC vs Ripple, Judge Torres has ruled that the SEC cannot seal documents tied to former Hinman’s 2018 speech on crypto and securities to Ripple

The ruling was warmly welcomed by the defendants including Ripple, CEO Brad Garlinghouse, and Christian Larsen, who are accused of selling unregistered securities through XRP to investors

Another win for transparency! Unredacted Hinman emails to be publicly available soon – stay tuned as the lawyers work through the mechanics to make that happen.

— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) May 16, 2023

Notably, Ripple was granted access to Hinman’s documents earlier last year but Judge Sarah Netburn ruled they should remain confidential. Judge Torres argued that Hinman’s documents are protected by the deliberative process privilege because they do not relate to an agency position. As a result, the Judge concluded that the public has the right to access Hinman’s documents before the final ruling.

“…Sealing these documents would not be related to preserving ‘openness and candour’ within the agency, nor would such an interest be substantial enough to outweigh the strong presumption of public access,” Judge Torres noted.

However, the judge ruled that the SEC can redact the names and personal information of people mentioned in Hinman’s documents. Additionally, Ripple lost a motion requesting the judge to seal information regarding XRP programmatic sales and the revenue the company made.

XRP Market Outlook

The XRP market edged higher on Wednesday despite the general bearish outlook in the crypto market. Furthermore, Bitcoin and Ethereum prices were down about 2 percent in the last 24 hours to trade around $26.6k and $1,789 respectively. According to our latest crypto price oracles, XRP price traded around $0.45, up nearly 6 percent, during the early New York trading session.

The XRP market is expected to significantly benefit from the closure of the SEC vs Ripple case that has dragged on for nearly three years.