In a surprising chain of events, the request of the SEC to keep the seal on Hinman documents has been denied by the court, signifying a win for Ripple. The ruling comes in between the long ongoing battle between the SEC and Ripple. At the same time, the ruling came approximately five months after the SEC was ordered to hand over the Hinman documents to Ripple as part of a discovery process.
The SEC filed a petition in December to seal all internal emails, texts, and expert reports that followed Hinman’s speech and argued that its mission greatly outweighed the right of the public to access documents that had no significant relevance to the court’s summary decision.
Much to the SEC’s dismay, Judge Analisa Torres ruled that these documents are judicial documents that are bound to have public access. At the same time, Judge Torres also mentioned how the court has rejected the SEC’s argument regarding the sealing of these documents to preserve openness and candor within the regulatory body.
Judge Torres added,
“Sealing these documents would not be related to preserving ‘openness and candor’ within the agency, nor would such an interest be substantial enough to outweigh the strong presumption of public access.”
Ripple Gets One Ahead of the SEC
The SEC has repeatedly argued that all cryptocurrencies except Bitcoin are securities, and they should be dealt with in that way. Therefore, the recent setback to the SEC is not only a win for Ripple but also a win for the crypto market. The CEO of Ripple, Brad Garlinghouse also tweeted and termed the ruling as a win for transparency.
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. https://t.co/o6puPypRHd https://t.co/qmaLVeQaP8
— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) May 16, 2023
The Hinman documents are expected to give insights into the internal communications of the SEC’s former Director of Corporation Finance, William Hinman. In his statements, it is speculated that Hinman stated in 2018 that Ethereum was not a security. The documents will also reveal the initial stance of the SEC on Ripple, helping the crypto firm in its defense in court.
Following the ruling, the price of Ripple’s native token, XRP, has jumped considerably. Following the increase of an impressive 7.21% in the previous 24 hours, the trading price reached a high of $0.46, however, now the token is trading around the $0.45 mark. The market cap of XRP currently stands at the $23 billion mark, making it the sixth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap.
The Hinman Documents is A New Twist in the Popular Crypto Case
Considering how the court has ruled that the Hinman documents would be made public soon, it has also granted additional two requests from the SEC. The requests revolve around the redaction of names, coupled with identifying information of SEC experts and XRP investor declarants, and all personal and financial information of the defendants.
Judge Torres also stated,
“The Hinman Speech Documents are not protected by the deliberative process privilege because they do not relate to an agency position, decision or policy.”
Furthermore, the court also denied several motions to deal with Ripple as well, which included various references regarding the revenue of Ripple via XRP sales, and the total value of compensation offered to various other trading platforms.
