Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse commented on the legal battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday, hinting again how important the Hinman documents could become to the case .
“You will be amazed at the behavior of the SEC”
For some time now there has been speculation about the relevance of these documents. While XRP community attorney John Deaton once believed the documents could force the SEC to settle with Ripple, he has recently distanced himself from the theory.
Nevertheless, Ripple’s CEO said yesterday at the World Economic Forum that the public will be amazed at the SEC’s behavior if the Hinman documents are made public.
Ripple’s CEO emphasized that due to the ongoing litigation, he must be vague on the subject as some things have not yet been made public. But that the SEC’s behavior was bizarre. However, Garlinghouse could say the following about it:
“Bill Hinman, the director of corporate finance at the SEC, gave a speech in June 2018 about ETH being a security, but it magically didn’t become a security. And there are some emails associated with that. When they come to light, you can see what a mess it was inside the walls of the SEC.”
Garlinghouse points out more shocking facts
Garlinghouse was even more critical of the SEC’s regulatory approach. He said, “Ripple went to the SEC and asked, Hey help me understand the rules, I want to make sure I follow the rules. But the SEC didn’t help at all, they just created confusion.”
The CEO also said that he personally met with SEC employees three times. Not once during these meetings did the SEC say, “Hey XRP might be a security.”
And Garlinghouse has a point there, of course. If, as a company, you are never told you are a security, even if you speak to the SEC several times about it. How can you still be tried 5 years later?
Ripple lawsuit coming to an end soon
Finally, Garlinghouse said he and his team expect the lawsuit to be resolved within months. The CEO also said that he is very confident in a positive result.
We certainly expect a court decision in 2023. You can’t really control when a judge makes their decisions, but I’m optimistic we’ll have clarity sometime in the next few months.