U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Commissioner Hester Peirce, the agency's longtime crypto industry ally, will leave the SEC on October 2, according to a resignation letter she posted Friday on X.
Peirce, nicknamed "Crypto Mom" by digital assets insiders, spent years pushing for clear industry regulations during the chairmanships of Republican Jay Clayton and Democrat Gary Gensler, both of whom pursued aggressive crypto enforcement agendas. She got a chance to work directly on rules under the administration of President Donald Trump, starting even before current Chairman Paul Atkins arrived, after being put in charge of the SEC's new Crypto Task Force last year.
Her work included policy statements and guidance clarifying the agency's position on mining, staking, memecoins, and definitions for classifying different types of crypto assets and which regulator would have jurisdiction over them. The agency later began proposing formal rules, starting with Regulation Crypto Assets, which set up a system for offering crypto assets without triggering securities regulations.
The agency's recent opening of the "innovation exemption" pathway for tokenizing securities may represent its biggest step, meant to launch the tokenized securities era in a limited, five-year approach that will inform eventual permanent rules.
In her resignation letter, Peirce wrote that "maximizing people's freedom to choose what is best for themselves and their families within sensible regulatory parameters designed to give them the confidence to transact with others is a delicate and vitally important task for the regulator." She is set to become an associate professor at Regent University School of Law.
