Hinman docs unsealed: SEC concerned over ‘Ether is not a security’ statement

Newly released files revealing edits that were made to a 2018 speech provided by former director of the Security and Exchange Commissions (SEC) business finance department Bill Hinman suggest the editors were worried his statement might weaken the concept that Ether (ETH) is a security. This could run the risk of locking the agency into a position it would find hard to alter at a later date, the SEC comments alert.” Even with the cautions in the sentence, it seems that it would be difficult for the company to take a different position on Ether in the future,” the edits to the documents read. “Further, the remainder of the paragraph highly indicates that the believing uses to Ether.” The Hinman documents refer to internal SEC messages worrying a 2018 speech given by Hinman in which he said that while cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether may start as securities, its possible for them to end up being something more similar to a product once they become sufficiently decentralized.Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse stated June 12 that the files would prove to be “well worth the wait.” Related: Ripple case: Pro-XRP lawyer suggestions outright SEC triumph at less than 3% The unsealing of the documents comes amidst an incredibly unstable time for the crypto market. June 13 also sees the federal court hear the SECs movement to freeze the possessions of Binance.US, following on from a spate of legal action against the exchange.The SEC first took legal action versus Ripple in December 2020, declaring that the sale of its native XRP (XRP) token represented an unregistered securities offering. Because then, Ripple has actually rejected XRP is a security, arguing it does not satisfy the Howey test.Magazine: Tornado Cash 2.0– The race to build safe and legal coin mixers