A deleted article on Ripple (XRP), Ethereum (ETH) and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the business magazine Forbes is causing a stir. What has been going on?
It is unusual for quality media such as the business magazine Forbes to retract articles and even more unusual when this happens without giving a reason. But who goes here a contribution of the Forbes Redakteurin Roslyn Layton, bumps evenly exactly on such a case. The title of the article in question was “Why the SEC treats Ripple and Ethereum differently,” giving a clue as to why the waves are running high. Because the author obviously managed to rile up two major crypto communities at once, namely Ripple (XRP) and Ethereum (ETH).
Whether XRP and ETH like it or not, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) court case against Ripple, which has been ongoing for more than two years, has focused the public’s attention on similarities and possible differences between the two cryptocurrencies. This is also the hook of the article at Forbes, which was documented with screenshots by Twitter users like King Blue here before it disappeared. Layton is referring to the infamous “Hinman speech,” which is being held up as a potentially crucial piece of evidence in the lawsuit between the SEC and Ripple.
Hinman, as a high-ranking SEC representative, had cleared Ethereum of regulatory interference in a keynote speech in 2028. Ripple claims the privilege as well. Forbes writer Layton believes Hinman’s advocacy for Ethereum was driven by its private financial motives, which may well be interpreted as an elegant euphemism for corruption. She also filed a motion in mid-February with the court that is adjudicating SEC v. Ripple, seeking to compel the release of accompanying documents to Hinman’s speech, citing freedom of information.
Bottom line: Ripple and Ethereum will no longer be friends
At Ethereum, they will be less than pleased a that there may be evidence that the SEC should reconsider its position on ETH. At Ripple, on the other hand, people are probably annoyed that a far-reaching article at Forbes is being retracted, which at least brings XRP out of isolation a bit. This is not the first time there has been contention between Ripple and Ethereum supporters. Back in August 2022, ETH inventor Vitalik Buterin provoked fierce reactions with statements towards Ripple and XRP. However, it remains unprofessional that Forbes does not provide any information on why it completely retracts a report that, as far as can be seen, does not contain any gross errors.
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