Brad Garlinghouse on the Hinman Documents and Ripple's SEC Lawsuit

Hi, I'm Brad Garlinghouse. As many of you know, I don't often make videos like this, but then again, not every week has been like this one.

A few days ago, after two years, seven court orders, and over $100 million in legal bills, the Hinman speech documents, including internal SEC emails and comments leading up to this now infamous 2018 speech, they've finally been unsealed.

Hinman's speech created new factors to determine if a token becomes sufficiently decentralized to no longer be considered a security.

At best, these documents show that senior officials at the SEC couldn't agree on the law and told Bill Hinman directly he would confuse the public even more about the rules for crypto.

At worst, they show that Hinman deliberately ignored the law, and he tried to create new laws, something only Congress can do.

And while he was a public servant, Hinman received millions of dollars of payments from his law firm, which was part of an alliance with others that had a vested interest in this speech.

This speech isn't about any one token or any one blockchain.

This is about showing the extent to which the SEC has relentlessly pursued enforcement actions against crypto players while professing fake open arms and calls to come in and register, all the while lying about their so-called guidance.

As some of you may know, Ripple spent years proactively engaging with the SEC.

I personally met with Jay Clayton and Bill Hinman with no lawyer present.

Why would I need a lawyer if we were all coming together in good faith?

We answered every question they had, and not once did they suggest to me that XRP was a security.

We were fully transparent, not knowing they would then use this information against us. The SEC hit us with a surprise Wells notice saying they were considering suing us for breaking securities laws and still refused to provide specifics.

To those that have recently been hit with their own Wells notices and lawsuits, this likely sounds all too familiar.

When the lawsuit did drop against us, days before Christmas, a very Grinch-like touch, they made it personal.

They sued Chris Larsen, and they sued myself, alleging we should have known all along that XRP was a security.

You can now see plain as day they couldn't even agree amongst themselves, and to me, it still seems like they can't.

What we saw play out in our case is exactly what's still happening. The SEC is looking to kill crypto innovation in the United States and its current chair, an unelected bureaucrat I might add, is weaponizing the lack of regulatory clarity to exert jurisdiction over the entire crypto space.

This is the definition of putting politics over people.

It's the pursuit of power over sound policy.

The SEC tried to bully us into acquiescing.

Thankfully, we have had the resources to fight back, and now we can all see what they fought so hard to hide.

They knowingly created confusion about the rules, and they used that confusion to regulate through enforcement.

That's bad faith, plain and simple. Ultimately, as our lawsuit comes to a close, for so many others, it's just starting. The fight for clarity has to continue.

I just want to conclude by saying to my colleagues here at Ripple, to my family, my friends, everyone who has supported us over the past two and a half years, and certainly to the whole of the XRP Army, a very heartfelt and a very genuine thank you for that support.