SEC Director Held 7 Meetings On Ethereum Before Giving Infamous Security Speech

The decision on Bill Hinman, then SEC Director’s infamous Ethereum speech has become a crucial deciding factor in the long running Ripple lawsuit. However, Eleanor Terrett, a fox journalist has posted documents of Hinman’s public calendar covering his entire tenure.

Docs reveal SEC director meeting linked with ETH

Terrett in a Twitter thread mentioned that she received an extensive 189 pages worth of documents. As per documents, Hinman from December 20, 2017, to giving the speech at Yahoo Finance event on June 14, 2018 had different private meetings.

It revealed that the SEC director did four meetings just only with ConsenSys, an Ethereum blockchain software company. While he has two additional meetings to exclusively discuss Ethereum. However, the most highlighted meeting was done with a16z.

This sums up a total of around 7 meetings exclusively on Ethereum before the infamous speech. John Deaton, Amicus Curiae in Ripple lawsuit mentioned that the first meeting with ConsenSys on December 12, 2017, held the notation “Submission Attached” that too without explanation.

While meeting with a16z on March 28, 2018 was a safe harbor proposal that mentioned Ethereum and no other token. The very next day Hinman had a 90 minute meeting with ConsenSys. However, it was followed up with a call with Joseph Lubin, an Ethereum co founder.

What was discussed in meetings?

However, SEC Director then met with Matt Corva, an associate of ConsenSys on May 25, 2018. Meanwhile, there were two meetings labeled as Call/Mtg re: Ethereum and “Ether”.

As per revelation, Hinman went on to meet SEC special counsel Michael Seaman. This meeting was completely about the speech. He held three special meetings with him.

XRP lawyer mentioned that another crucial meeting was with Coinbase on March 27, 2022. Meanwhile, the meeting related to the speech was only with ConsenSys and a16z. However, no one else was consulted on Hinman’s calender outside the SEC.

There is a special mention of the SEC Director’s meetings with SEC Ethics staff in the run up of the Ethereum speech.