SEC commissioner Hester Peirce told Yahoo Finance on Friday that she now hopes to provide "greater clarity" for a crypto industry that long argued Washington, D.C., treated it unfairly and inconsistently.
"I'm hoping that we can get to a place," Peirce said in an interview, "where we have greater clarity around" a legal framework "that is workable, that is consistent with the statute, but also enables people to figure out what something is categorized ... without hiring lots of lawyers and having the fear of litigation hanging over them."
Peirce has a chance now to greatly influence the direction of policy going forward at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), where she also is the new head of a crypto task force formed after the new Trump administration took office. Her appointment as head of that task force was cheered by those in the crypto world, some of whom refer to Peirce as "crypto mom."
Peirce on Friday issued a statement titled " There Must Be Some Way Out of Here " that asked the public for input on how the SEC should approach the industry going forward, posing a series of questions designed to prompt greater regulatory clarity.
The arrival of a new administration has prompted a lot of new optimism in the crypto world about a new tone at the SEC.
During the Biden administration, the regulator under the leadership of Gary Gensler clashed with many of the industry’s top companies and figures via lawsuits and enforcement actions, often arguing that securities laws were being violated.
Perhaps its most prominent lawsuit was against Coinbase ( COIN ), the largest US cryptocurrency exchange. The SEC argued many of the digital assets traded on its platform were in fact securities and that Coinbase had not properly registered as a securities exchange.
Coinbase said Friday that it expects the new SEC to drop this case and that a vote among its commissioners is expected next Thursday.
"It's a new day for crypto in the United States and it could not have come fast enough," said Paul Grewal, Coinbase’s chief legal officer.
Grewal said Peirce and acting SEC chair Mark Uyeda deserve a lot of credit. Trump's pick to chair the SEC, Paul Atkins, has not yet been confirmed by the Senate.
"They have not wasted any time in turning the page from Gary Gensler's misguided campaign of regulation by enforcement and are moving quickly to get rulemaking going, to reset the dialogue with industry, and to focus on the future,” he said.
Peirce declined to discuss the case or how she might vote, saying, "I can’t speak about ongoing cases."
Grewal said Coinbase had major difficulty trying to speak with the SEC during the last administration but that now the firm is having regular dialogue.
"We are in constant contact with the SEC and, in particular, its crypto task force,” he said. “Commissioner Peirce has done an admirable job of setting a very transparent public process in motion for collecting input on what good rules could look like."
Peirce said Friday that she hopes the SEC can have a practice where people can talk to the agency and the SEC can think about when registration is necessary or not.
"We need to do more than just tell people they can come in and register, and then when they get here, shut the door, which has been sort of the past practice,” Peirce added.
During the last administration, the SEC declined to write customized rules to govern crypto and often argued many tokens were securities and that companies must comply with rules already on the books. Crypto companies were routinely slapped with enforcement actions when the SEC argued securities laws were being violated.
Peirce said she intends to provide a new legal framework that could address some of the participants' concerns.
One idea under serious consideration would temporarily allow digital asset coin offerings to be deemed non-securities as long the issuer provided certain information and agreed not to protest any fraud charges brought — both for future offerings and retroactively.
"That could be a real positive early on, even if that’s a temporary fix while Congress is working and while we're working on rule making," she said.
Peirce also said she was open to allowing staking and greenlighting options for ether ( ETH-USD ) exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Staking is where you lock up digital coins in order to participate in running the blockchain and maintaining its security in exchange for a yield offering a return.
The last administration approved spot bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) and ether ETFs as well as options for bitcoin ETFs but did not approve staking nor options on ether ETFs.
Peirce also said if President Donald Trump’s media company does in fact apply for approval to launch a bitcoin ETF, the SEC will review it the same way it looks at any other application — even though the agency operates with oversight from the White House.
"I think what we do is we look at every incoming application on its facts and circumstances and we take into account the unique facts and circumstances associated with each,” she said. “We'll do that with respect to anything that comes through the door.”
When asked whether Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has been inside the SEC, Peirce said she could not confirm that. A review of public records shows that DOGE has claimed more than $206,000 in savings by canceling SEC media subscriptions to publications, including Politico Pro and Reuters.
Peirce underscored the SEC is always looking for ways to run the agency more efficiently while still maintaining oversight of capital markets.
"That's something that we're always thinking about,” Peirce said. “We feel we have a real responsibility; we have excellent staff here, and we want to make sure that they're working on the most important projects.”
The SEC, she added, has not made a decision on whether it would roll back a rule imposed by the Biden administration that would require companies to disclose how climate change impacts their business. The acting SEC chair recently ordered SEC lawyers to delay oral arguments over the climate change rule.
“I have had concerns about that rule making, certainly, and I expressed them pretty vociferously at the time that we proposed and adopted those changes,” Peirce said. “I'm sure we'll be thinking about these kinds of things.”
This week Trump signed a new executive order stating that independent agencies should submit major regulations to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review. Peirce said the OMB can be “really helpful” in thinking through economic analysis and picking the best tools to solve a problem.
"They're experts in this,” said Peirce. “I'm certainly looking forward to working with them on helping us make sure that our economic analysis is really serving the fullest potential that it can serve."
ethereum and bitcoin prices, crypto ETFs, and market implications for cryptocurrencies
