"Why did the price of XRP go up high and then go down quickly after the Hinman Speech document was released?"
The price managed to reach $0.56 when the long-running case between the United States (US) Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Ripple (XRP) finally released a document dubbed the Hinman Speech yesterday, which is a key element in their legal battle.
The content of the document which revealed that the regulator in 2018 did not consider “token lockups”* as securities means it is relevant and useful for other cryptocurrencies to defend themselves against SEC allegations.
*Limits the transferability of tokens, including those received from airdrops, initial coin offerings (ICOs), or sales events for a certain period
Unfortunately, the price of XRP plunged back below $0.52 when several hundred pages of documents and emails regarding the Hinman Speech filed by the legal team of Brad Garlinghouse and Charis Larsen became available for public review and scrutiny.
It is already known that the Hinman document refers to the SEC's internal communication regarding a 2018 speech given by the former Director of the Corporation's Finance division, William Hinman, in which it elaborated on the SEC's stance on cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum (ETH).
Through a document published on Tuesday yesterday, the SEC that considers "lockup tokens" and subsequent releases as a sign of non-securities indicates that XRP unlocks tokens cannot be considered securities.
According to Stuart Alderoty, XRP's Chief Legal Officer, Hinman's speech was split from the Howey factor and the regulatory gap, so the document does not support the SEC's claims against XRP, but it still creates more confusion than clarity.
This is because Hinman only reflects his personal views, but in 2018 the SEC considers it a guideline.
As such, the release of the document has raised more questions than it answers and the XRP community is awaiting a decision from Judge Torres as the content of Hinman's email did not bring any change plus the regulatory guidance remains unclear.
