The XRP community has delved into the more than 400 pages of Hinman documents recently published in the legal battle between Ripple Labs and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), examining why the former head of the corporate finance division of the SEC, Bill Hinamn, gave Ethereum (ETH) a free pass as a non-security.
As reported by NewsBTC, Hinman spoke on the phone with Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin before his speech to determine how Ethereum works. Additionally, Hinman defied the recommendation of the SEC’s Office of General Counsel (OGC), which opposed the inclusion of ETH in the notorious speech.
New Revelations by the XRP Army
Ashley Prosper, a member of the XRP community, has read the entire Hinman docs and found some interesting information regarding Ethereum and Bill Hinman. As a reminder, Hinman returned to law firm Simpson Thacher, which is also part of the Ethereum Enterprise Alliance, in 2020.
According to Prosper, the documents reveal how Hinman was heavily pressured by Simpson Thatcher and ConsenSys to deliver the Ethereum Free Pass speech. Hinman intentionally refrained from sending the speech to any of the commissioners, except Jay Clayton, because doing so, in his own words, “would slow down the process considerably.”
Additionally, Hinman said he did extensive research on Ethereum before delivering his speech. Yet he could not say how much Ether (ETH) Joe Lubin, Vitalik Buterin, or the Ethereum Foundation owned, or who funded the Ethereum Foundation.
The XRP community member also speculates that the SEC is so concerned about the revelation of Joseph Lubin’s name that it covered up any mention of the name “Joe” in Hinman’s interview. Even when it came to Joseph Grundfest. Prosper further states:
Jorge Tenreiro [SEC attorney] is fighting tooth and nail in Hinman’s deposition to prevent any response related to ETH, Ethereum, Consensys or Lubin. Just watch how he approaches ETH vs. Bitcoin issues.
#XRP #XRPCommunity
The SEC is so concerned about revealing the name of Joseph Lubins that it removed any reference to Joe’s name in Hinman’s deposition. Even when it belonged to Joesph Grundfest, whom they already identified by name. The fear is real… what is @ethereumJoseph… pic.twitter.com/j9vUnuHIOy— Ashley PROSPER (@AshleyPROSPER1) June 15, 2023
Still, Prosper found a passage in the documents that reveals Hinman had four to five meetings with ConsenSys, as well as face-to-face conversations with people associated with the company.
Mr. Huber, a renowned member of the XRP community, speculates, based on Prosper’s findings, that the reason for the urgency of the speech was to exempt Ethereum from the ethics provision coming into force next week, which would have required all government employees to disclose their ETH holdings.
“Hinman’s speech not only prevented this from happening, but he also ensured that many politicians joined Ethereum afterwards, which is why people always try to cover it up,” Huber said. said.
Renowned XRP lawyer Jeremy Hogan has a similar suspicion. He claims that Hinman was paid to “give ETH a free pass.” In a interview on CryptoLaw, Hogan speculated that an Ethereum member bribed Hinman to give a free pass to ETH during the speech:
My speculation is that Ripple’s position here is that Bill Hinman somehow got paid, and he was paid by the Ethereum Foundation or someone connected to Ethereum to give the speech, give Ethereum a free pass.
However, Hogan also clarified that Ripple does not want to press charges against others like the Ethereum Foundation, likely because there is not enough evidence.
At press time, XRP changed hands for $0.4735, down 6.3% in the last 24 hours.
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