“Is it April Fools Day?”: Ripple CLO Shades Bill Hinman Following His Promotion at a16z

Ripple CLO, Stuart Alderoty takes a swipe at former SEC official Bill Hinman after his promotion to Advisory Partner at a16z.

Ripple’s Chief Legal Officer (CLO) Stuart Alderoty has taken to X (formerly Twitter) to react to a post about VC firm Andreessen Horowitz (aka a16z) promoting former SEC official Bill Hinman.

XRP Community Member Announces Hinman’s Promotion

Notably, the tweet was shared by prominent XRP influencer Mr. Huber, who revealed that Hinman had been promoted to Advisory Partner at the crypto unit of a16z.

Per screenshots attached to the tweet, a16z highlighted Hinman’s past achievements during his time as director of SEC’s Corporation Finance.

“Bill spearheaded the SEC’s early work with digital assets, and made critical contributions that provided clarity to companies operating in the space,” an excerpt from the screenshot read.

Ripple CLO Reacts

Interestingly, Alderoty joined other XRP community members in reacting to the post. Alderoty enquired whether it was April Fools’ Day.

He provided a caption that a16z could have used to describe Hinman’s role at the SEC.

“Shouldn’t this read ‘While a public servant at the SEC, he collected $15 million from his old firm, ignored the law, and created even ‘greater confusion’ for the crypto industry…,” he tweeted.

Wait, is it April Fools day? Shouldn’t this read “While a public servant at the SEC, he collected $15 million from his old firm, ignored the law and created even ‘greater confusion’ for the crypto industry" ….

— Stuart Alderoty (@s_alderoty) September 12, 2023

Hinman’s Saga & Involvement in SEC v. Ripple Lawsuit

It is worth noting that Hinman has remained a main figure in the ongoing SEC v. Ripple lawsuit. Recall that the former SEC official declared BTC and ETH as non-securities during his infamous speech on June 14, 2018.

Shortly after the SEC sued Ripple in December 2020, the leading blockchain company requested the drafts of Hinman’s controversial speech to support its argument that XRP is not a security.

However, the SEC refused to surrender the documents. This led to an intense legal battle that lasted 18 months. Interestingly, after six court orders, the SEC finally surrendered the documents to Ripple.

Notably, the document showed that Hinman refused to heed warnings from top SEC officials regarding the speech. They had warned that the infamous speech would cause greater confusion in the crypto market.

In addition, the documents showed prior communication with Ethereum officials, including Vitalik Buterin. As reported earlier, Hinman met with Buterin a week before he gave the speech.

These developments stirred speculations that Hinman may have been influenced to declare ETH as a non-security.

Hinman Violated SEC Rules

In a separate development, Empower Oversight also released documents showing Hinman violated SEC rules. While at the SEC, Hinman was still meeting with his former employer, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.

It is worth mentioning that Simpson Thacher is a member of the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA), an advocacy organization that aims to drive the use of Enterprise Ethereum.

Interestingly, the document also revealed that Hinman received $9 million in profit sharing from Simpson Thacher despite being the head of SEC’s Corporation Finance.

XRP Community Calls for Hinman’s Investigation

Following the endless saga surrounding Hinman’s past activities at the SEC, Empower Oversight and XRP community members have been calling the relevant authorities to investigate Hinman over conflicts of interest.

However, these calls have yet to yield positive results at press time.