The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's longtime ally of the crypto industry, Commissioner Hester Peirce, has set a departure date for next week, marking an end to a long era in which she sought clear rules for the sector — even during the years in which the agency refused to consider crypto regulations and pursued an array of legal actions.

Her final day is Oct. 2, according to a resignation letter she posted Friday on social media site X, which emerged even as the SEC was posting yet another piece of crypto policy work meant to clear up lingering questions on how the agency is defining tokens and its expectations for how projects are marketed.

Peirce, often known as "Crypto Mom" by digital assets insiders, pushed for years to get industry regulations during the chairmanships of Republican Jay Clayton and Democrat Gary Gensler — both of whom pursued aggressive crypto enforcement agendas. She finally got a chance to work on rules during the administration of President Donald Trump. She got started even before the arrival of current Chairman Paul Atkins, having been put in charge of the SEC's new Crypto Task Force last year.

Her crypto work included a wide range of policy statements and guidance that clarified the agency's position on various aspects of the industry, including mining, staking, memcoins and — most importantly — a series of definitions for classifying different types of crypto assets and which regulator would have dominion. More recently, the agency began proposing formal rules, beginning with one known as Regulation Crypto Assets, which set up a system for offering crypto assets without triggering stringent securities regulations.

Source link