SEC emails illuminated ex-official Hinman’s 2018 view on ETH, which Ripple’s top lawyer said was used to ‘destroy and disrupt’ U.S. crypto, but this probably won’t steer agency policy.
Ripple Labs and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) seem to be on the same page about the documents known as the Hinman Emails: The former official’s past remarks shouldn’t govern current policy.
Despite the rush of attention this week on the insider deliberations that went into writing a five-year-old speech from William Hinman – the former head of the SEC’s corporation finance division – the agency’s past uncertainty over the status of ether (ETH) never amounted to formal commission-approved rules or guidance. So the dialogue over the ex-official’s one-time remarks may offer some insights, but it’s unlikely to move the needle on the agency’s crypto policy.
“Nothing in these documents creates precedent or establishes law,” said Andrew Hinkes, a lawyer at K&L Gates who co-chairs its digital assets practice. At best, the emails give “a helpful snapshot of certain SEC staffers’ views on some issues at a point in time,” so it’s useful for those trying to understand where the agency has been coming from on the crypto-as-securities debate, but there’s nothing the SEC can be held to, Hinkes said.
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