Ripple Labs and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have come to a consensus that the documents known as the Hinman Emails should not be used to dictate current policy. Andrew Hinkes, a lawyer at K&L Gates, stated that the emails give a helpful snapshot of certain SEC staffers’ views on some issues at a point in time, but that they do not create precedent or establish law. Ripple’s Chief Legal Officer, Stuart Alderoty, believes that the SEC has fostered regulatory confusion in the marketplace and that the Hinman speech should never again be used in discussions about whether a token is or is not a security. SEC Chair Gary Gensler has since suggested a different view, and the SEC has not relied on Hinman’s position in recent years. Grant Gulovsen, an Illinois-based lawyer who works with crypto clients, believes that the Hinman emails are not particularly significant from a legal standpoint and that Hinman’s idea of a project becoming sufficiently decentralized is still useful.
Ripple and SEC Agree: Hinman Emails Don’t Govern Crypto Policy
