Attorney and XRP supporter John Deaton is weighing in on the possibility that a settlement could be in the works between payments firm Ripple and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
On Friday, Ripple filed a motion addressed to Judge Analisa Torres requesting a one-week extension to file public, redacted versions of the firm’s cross-motions for summary judgment and accompanying exhibits, which includes the Hinman documents.
On May 18th, Judge Torres ordered that documents relating to the highly contested “Hinman emails” be unsealed for public viewing.
The materials contain internal SEC deliberations about a speech given by former SEC Director William Hinman in 2018 when he said in his official capacity that both Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) are not securities.
The delay in the ongoing lawsuit has sparked speculations that the SEC and Ripple are possibly using the time to hammer out the details of a settlement.
However, pro-XRP lawyer John Deaton believes that the unsealing of the Hinman documents is unlikely to stop the SEC from seeing the case through to its conclusion.
“A lot of comments about whether this delay is for settlement discussions. If the Hinman emails were going to lead to a settlement, it would’ve been before they turned them over to Ripple. In my opinion, the SEC has accepted that the Hinman emails are eventually going to be made public.”
Deaton says he believes SEC Chair Gary Gensler, who has been hostile to the crypto industry, is determined to take the years-long lawsuit to the end.
“I know many people hope I’m wrong because they want this over. I’ve been wrong before and I hope I’m wrong now. Hell, I’ll jump up and celebrate being wrong. But Gensler is moving forward full steam. How can he agree XRP is not a security but sue Coinbase claiming the others are?”
In December 2020, the SEC sued Ripple for allegedly selling XRP as an unregistered security.
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