According to attorney John Deaton, the release of the Hinman documents makes it impossible for the SEC to argue that Ripple executives Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen were reckless in distributing XRP.

The documents show that top SEC officials were uncertain whether crypto assets fall under the agency's purview and warned against Hinman's speech, which declared Bitcoin and Ethereum as non-securities.

Deaton believes the SEC cannot win its case against Ripple executives and that they were only sued because the agency has always been a bully.