Hester Peirce Details SEC’s New Crypto Task Force

“Crypto Mom” Hester Peirce provided extensive details on the SEC’s new Crypto Task Force. It will delegate more enforcement and policy away from the SEC’s purview, presenting risks and opportunities for the consumer.

She was quite clear that the SEC will still fight fraud, but alleged that it overstepped its jurisdictional boundaries under Gary Gensler.

Hester Peirce and the New SEC

SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, “Crypto Mom” and long-term industry ally, has grown in prominence recently. Two weeks ago, Acting SEC Chair Mark Uyeda created a new Crypto Task Force, but few concrete details were defined.

Today, however, Peirce extensively detailed the Task Force’s goals and mandate in a press release.

“It took us a long time to get into this mess, and it is going to take us some time to get out of it. The Commission has engaged with the crypto industry in one form or another for more than a decade. Throughout this time, the Commission’s handling of crypto has been marked by legal imprecision and commercial impracticality,” she claimed.

Peirce detailed a huge array of stalling tactics and ambient hostility under former SEC Chair Gary Gensler. However, Gensler resigned in late January, and the Commission is changing.

Paul Atkins is set to be the next Chair, and both current Commissioners have a long history with him. Together, these three plan to move fast and build a new enforcement approach.

Peirce made it clear that the SEC is operating under a new paradigm, but it’s still the same institution. She emphatically claimed that it will take time to rebuild policy, compounded by the flood of paperwork requests that the Commission is now receiving.

Additionally, the Task Force is still determined to stop fraudulent activity. However, the SEC clarifies that regulatory clarity should not be viewed as an endorsement for any cryptocurrency or asset.

“The new commitment to a better regulatory environment should not be viewed as an endorsement of any crypto coin or token. Regardless of whether those tokens or coins fall within our jurisdiction, the Commission never endorses any product or service; there is no such thing as an SEC seal of approval,” Peirce mentioned.

All that being said, Peirce detailed a few brass tacks in the new SEC. She wants to reassess which assets are commodities or securities. This would delegate enforcement behavior that falls outside the Commission’s jurisdiction.

Peirce detailed many specific products under this umbrella, from token offerings to lending, staking, ETPs, cross-border payments, and more.

Ultimately, it’s clear that the ‘new SEC’ will work towards economic freedom, but “people must decide for themselves.”

In essence, the Task Force will fight fraud but actively pursue a more laissez-faire approach. That will also present risks for the uninformed crypto user.