Implications for XRP, SEC credibility and more

The Hinman documents were finally unsealed and made publicly available on June 12 after a lengthy back and forth between Ripple and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), but what exactly do they reveal?

The documents are extensive, and while they can be found in public resources like the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) or CourtListener, lawyer James Filan tweeted on June 13, compiling them into two URLs.

#XRPCommunity #SECGov v. #Ripple #XRP Here are the Hinman documents, by Exhibit number, in one place. https://t.co/6kUYZ1X2WKhttps://t.co/wZQmalfFkS

— James K. Filan (@FilanLaw) June 13, 2023

Speaking to Cointelegraph soon after the unsealing, pro-XRP lawyer and founder of CryptoLaw John Deaton shared his belief that “the documents themselves don’t impact the judge’s underlying analysis of whether XRP (XRP) was offered/sold by Ripple as an investment contract, or XRP’s status in the secondary markets in the United States.“

This is considered a key defense of Ripple during its legal battle with the SEC. But those keeping a close eye on the case will know that the documents were not expected to do so, despite the then SEC chair Jay Clayton referencing the speech as “the approach we take to evaluate whether a digital asset is a security,” the 2018 speech carried disclaimers that it was the personal views of the then director of corporation finance William Hinman, which “does not necessarily reflect those of the Commission.”

With the Hinman documents being such a hot topic, many other crypto lawyers have also wondered what the documents might mean for XRP and Ether (ETH).

A “nothingburger?”

After the documents were unsealed, many onlookers, such as Gabriel Shapiro, general counsel for crypto firm Delphi Labs, took to Twitter calling them a “nothingburger,” which had no impact on the case between Ripple and the SEC.

Hinman emails are a nothingburger though great for ETH. No idea why Ripple thinks these emails help Ripple’s case….

— _gabrielShapir0 (@lex_node) June 13, 2023

Pro-XRP lawyer and Hodl Law founder Fred Rispoli had a different take when appearing on the Thinking Crypto podcast on June 15. He suggests they are “explosive” because although “we all knew there’s a revolving door” between regulators and private firms — and “behind the scenes dealings” — the public rarely gets a chance to see it as clearly as it’s displayed in the emails.

In other words, while the…