- Crypto’s favourite parent signals SEC will reduce scrutiny of crypto market.
- Hester Peirce is leading a newly formed 'Crypto Task Force.'
- Crypto and AI czar David Sacks announced new crypto policy goals Tuesday.
Hester Peirce may be “crypto mom,” but on Tuesday she insisted that the Securities and Exchange Commission will not mother investors who take risks in the market.
“If people want to buy a token or product that lacks a clear long-term value proposition, they should feel free to but should not be surprised if someday the price drops,” the SEC Commissioner said in a policy statement.
“People must decide for themselves, not look to Mama Government to tell them what to do or not to do, nor to bail them out when they do something that turns out badly.”
Her remarks are an about-face for the SEC, which has cracked down for years on a wide swath of crypto companies for launching, trading, or selling cryptocurrencies.
Trump’s crypto admin
Dubbed “crypto mom” by industry supporters, Peirce has long opposed the SEC’s crackdown spearheaded by former chairman Gary Gensler.
Peirce, who was appointed to the commission by Trump in 2018, has argued that the SEC overstepped its authority by directing crypto platforms to register digital assets the same way as stocks and bonds.
Like many in the industry, she believes cryptocurrencies should have tailor made legislation.
“I think we’re shooting ourselves in the foot by not having a regulatory regime in the US,” she said at a crypto conference in 2023.
Now, as Donald Trump asserts his control over the US government, Peirce finally has a bigger say over crypto policy at the SEC and a powerful ally in the Oval Office.
Shortly after his inauguration, Trump issued an executive order that banned central bank digital currencies and ordered the government to study the feasibility of a national digital assets stockpile.
Crypto task force
Trump also appointed David Sacks, a Silicon Valley investor and friend of Elon Musk, to be his administration’s crypto and AI czar.
And Peirce will steer a newly formed “Crypto Task Force,” under Mark Uyeda, the acting SEC chairman who is also pro-crypto.
Uyeda will lead the SEC until Paul Atkins, a former SEC commissioner and Trump’s nominee for chairman, is confirmed by the US Senate.
On Tuesday, Peirce said that she plans to focus her task force on hammering out whether cryptocurrencies are securities, exploring the possibility of temporarily making initial coin offerings legal, among other priorities.
“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,” she said of the state of crypto regulation and enforcement in the US.
Peirce hastened to add that her policy shift is not a signal for criminals to take advantage of investors.
“We do not tolerate liars, cheaters, and scammers,” she said.
Ben Weiss is a Dubai-based reporter for DL News. Got a tip? Email him at bweiss@dlnews.com.
