Steven Nerayoff, an early advisor to Ethereum, has weighed in on William Hinman’s June 14, 2018, statement, suggesting that this infamous date will be remembered for years to come.
A prominent figure in the cryptocurrency world, Steven Nerayoff, has made a startling claim regarding the notorious speech delivered by William Hinman, the former director of the SEC’s Corporation Finance division.
In a recent post on X, a well-known member of the XRP community, @digitalassetbuy, shared a document related to a meeting that allegedly laid the groundwork for Hinman’s controversial speech. According to the document, a meeting was scheduled on March 28, 2018, involving key figures from the crypto industry and members of the SEC’s Corporation Finance team.
Remarkably, @digitalassetbuy described this meeting as the event that paved the way for Hinman’s speech, which granted Ethereum a unique status. It’s worth recalling that during his speech on June 14, 2018, Hinman declared both Ethereum and Bitcoin as non-securities.
This speech, which has been at the center of heated discussions throughout the SEC v. Ripple lawsuit, is commonly referred to as the “Ethereum free pass” by many observers.
The date of Hinman’s speech will be forever remembered in infamy.
In response to a tweet from @digitalassetbuy, Nerayoff declared that the date of Hinman’s speech would be forever etched in infamy. As an early advisor to Ethereum, Nerayoff also pointed out that the true intentions behind Hinman’s notorious speech were being kept hidden.
“Wait until you discover the other events that transpired on this very day to silence me and obscure their wrongdoing,” he further commented.
He emphasized, “They are concealing more than just the reasons behind the speech…”
It’s important to note that in 2019, the FBI charged Nerayoff with alleged extortion. However, in May 2023, the authorities decided to dismiss the case.
Four months after the case was dropped, Nerayoff claimed that the FBI had targeted him because of his insights into the Ethereum ICO. He asserted that this alleged conspiracy also implicated other high-level government agencies, including the SEC and the Justice Department.
Empower Oversight is requesting records of cryptocurrency-related communications during Jay Clayton’s tenure as the head of the SEC.
Meanwhile, the crypto community has been engaged in a heated debate sparked by Empower Oversight’s recent FOIA request.
In a recent announcement, Empower Oversight disclosed that it had filed a new FOIA request to obtain communications between former SEC chair Jay Clayton and various individuals concerning cryptocurrency matters.
The focus of Empower Oversight’s new FOIA submission centers on what they consider to be the SEC’s mishandling of cryptocurrency enforcement during Clayton’s leadership.
The announcement excerpt read, “The request arises from Clayton’s statements about Bitcoin and statements by other senior officials regarding Ether, indicating they were not under SEC enforcement purview as securities. However, just as Clayton was departing the agency, the SEC filed a lawsuit against Ripple, related to another cryptocurrency, XRP, alleging it to be a security.”
Enthusiasts of XRP are responding to Empower Oversight’s recent Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) filing.
As anticipated, this development has sparked reactions from XRP enthusiasts, who have raised concerns about potential corruption within the SEC.
Addressing this situation, pro-XRP attorney Bill Morgan remarked that Empower Oversight provided a “flawless summary” of Clayton’s conflict of interest.
Furthermore, Attorney John Deaton, who represents thousands of XRP holders in the Ripple lawsuit, pointed out a noteworthy detail: Clayton was the sole SEC commissioner who had access to the draft of Hinman’s speech before it was delivered at Yahoo Finance’s All Market Summit.
Deaton highlighted that Hinman never shared a copy of what he referred to as the “most significant speech in the crypto industry” with SEC commissioner Hester Peirce, widely known as “Crypto-Mom.”