- He refused to recognize BTC and ETH as commodities
- It was his statement that was the basis of the Ripple defense strategy
- Now the agency has simply “crossed him off”
“He worked from May 2017 to December 2020” is all the information you can find about William Hinman on the SEC website. Meanwhile, it was his statement about decentralization of crypto-assets that formed the basis of Ripple’s defense strategy in court.</nbsp;
It appears that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) no longer considers the former head of corporate finance’s contribution meaningful. Where there was an extensive description of Hinman’s biography, now a couple of lines.
What’s so important about him? At the 2018 Yahoo Finance All Markets Summit, Hinman made a controversial statement about the regulatory definition of crypto-assets. In particular, he noted that BTC and ETH cannot be considered securities because of their decentralized nature.</nbsp;
Later this very statement formed the basis of Ripple’s defense strategy. The SEC sued the company for violating industry laws.</nbsp;
The regulator later petitioned to censor Hinman’s papers, but was denied. With the revelation of the former corporate finance chief’s statement, Ripple’s chances of winning in court have increased significantly.
Hinman himself has not opposed the SEC directly, although he has repeatedly called for an amicable resolution of the conflict. But his statement seems to have been enough for the former employee to be written out of the annals of the department’s history.
Hinman’s full biography page can be viewed at the Internet Archive. And this is what it looks like now:
Nice thanks for the service, right?