The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) showed greater leniency toward Ethereum than toward Ripple’s XRP token. This conclusion was reached by the Deaton Law Firm, led by founder John Deaton.
HOW Web3 & THE #ETHER FREE PASS WAS BORN:
Recently, @jack was blocked by @pmarca over Jack’s observation regarding the inherent interests of VCs related to Web3. What is Web3?
“Web3, much like other buzzwords you hear — Bitcoin, NFTs etc. — is based on blockchain technology.”
— John E Deaton (@JohnEDeaton1) December 27, 2021
On December 27, Deaton posted a thread outlining a number of facts in support of his position. According to him, on December 13, 2017, then-head of the agency’s corporate finance division William Hinman and ConsenSys CEO Joseph Lubin held a meeting that “did not concern Ethereum’s ICO,” but was “the beginning of a very mutually beneficial alliance”.
The initial meeting between Hinman & Lubin occurred at the height of the ICO craze, following #Ether‘s successful crowd-sale model. But Hinman and the Lubin / Consensys meeting wasn’t about #Ethereum‘s ICO. Instead, it was the beginning of a very mutually beneficial “alliance”.
— John E Deaton (@JohnEDeaton1) December 27, 2021
“On January 25, 2018, SEC Chairman Jay Clayton met with Chris Dixon of Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), tasked him with assembling industry players and presenting a memo on how the regulator should act with digital assets,” wrote the founder of the Deaton Law Firm.
On December 27, Deaton posted a thread outlining a number of facts in support of his position. According to him, on December 13, 2017, then-head of the agency’s corporate finance division William Hinman and ConsenSys CEO Joseph Lubin held a meeting that “did not concern Ethereum’s ICO,” but was “the beginning of a very mutually beneficial alliance”.
Certainly, the second largest crypto asset would be represented in this industry group. But according to @CGasparino and @EleanorTerrett’s reporting, @Ripple was not invited by Dixon to be a part of this industry group. We know Lowell Ness was the lead attorney writing the memo📝
— John E Deaton (@JohnEDeaton1) December 27, 2021
According to Deaton, it included representatives of the crypto industry who were, to some extent, tied to the Ethereum ecosystem. The lawyer also reiterated the previously stated claim that Hinman received $15 million from Simpson Thacher — its leaders sat on the board of the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance. ConsenSys’s interests, according to him, were represented by the Clayton-linked law firm Sullivan & Cromwell.
Sullivan Cromwell brokered the deal of Consensys buying JP Morgan’s Quorum — a direct competitor of Ripple. The Quorum /JP Morgan Coin deal was announced 4 months before the lawsuit against Ripple and XRP was filed — as most senior SEC officials behind the lawsuit left the SEC.
— John E Deaton (@JohnEDeaton1) December 27, 2021
“Sullivan & Cromwell acted as broker in the deal of ConsenSys’s purchase of Quorum [JPMorgan’s blockchain platform] — a direct competitor to Ripple,” Deaton noted.
Hinman, according to the Deaton Law Firm, allegedly became a partner with Dixon in a $2.2 billion crypto fund. The fund of that size was launched by a16z in June 2021.
We learned that Hinman’s Ether Free Pass Speech closely followed the Lowell Ness Perkins Coie memo 📝. And after collecting $15m from Simpson Thacher, Hinman became a partner with Chris Dixon at Andreesen’s $2.2B Crypto Fund which is heavily invested in #BTC and #Ether.
— John E Deaton (@JohnEDeaton1) December 27, 2021
Earlier, Fox Business published a major investigation into the SEC’s case against Ripple. Journalists concluded that the officials behind the filing could have been affiliated with Ethereum.
In August, Ripple managed to secure Hinman’s appearance in court to testify, despite the regulator’s attempts to dismiss this motion.
Brad Garlinghouse, the head of the fintech company, later described Ethereum’s success as the result of the SEC’s favorable treatment.
Earlier in December, Empower Oversight demanded that the Commission disclose documents concerning potential conflicts of interest in the actions of former senior officials.
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