SEC Commissioner Peirce: Trump Admin Interested In Moving Quicker on Crypto

After years of tension between crypto founders and federal regulators, the pro-crypto shift in the United States led by SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce is accelerating. And this time, it’s coming with support from the top.“This is really an important thing for me to get things done quickly,” said Commissioner Hester Peirce, who now heads the agency’s Crypto Task Force. “But also... it’s something that the administration more generally is interested in moving forward quickly.”In a new exclusive Coinage interview, Commissioner Peirce expanded on accelerating pro-crypto changes now that the new Trump-appointed SEC Chair, Paul Atkins, has officially assumed his role. Just a few days in, Atkins attended his first crypto roundtable to signal support. “He came to express his support for the roundtable and for what we're trying to investigate,” Peirce said. “He's made it clear that this is a priority for him to try to bring clarity to this space.”Clarity has long been the missing ingredient, according to Commissioner Peirce, especially for founders in the US trying to launch compliant crypto projects. “Before, if you were offering something of real value, you were more worried about getting hauled into the SEC for an enforcement discussion,” she said. “Now, I would like to flip that so it really encourages people to pour their talents into building things that are useful." SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce sat down with Coinage Host Zack Guzman after Coinage advocated for DAOs in a meeting with the Crypto Task Force. Walking the walk, Coinage headed down to the SEC's office for a meeting with the Crypto Task Force along with other US DAO Cooperative founders, like ETHDenver's John Paller, and Graham Novak, the founder of ConstitutionDAO, to secure a roadmap from the SEC for clearer rules to bring cooperatives onchain. (Coinage and ETHDenver are both Colorado-registered limited cooperative associations under a new digital framework. Our meeting came as more builders are finally taking the agency up on its offer to engage directly.)“I think a lot of other projects are taking us up on it,” Peirce said. “We're trying to keep this as transparent as possible.” But transparency doesn’t mean instant answers. “We have to prioritize,” she said. “We might not be able to provide the relief that a particular person wants right away. And I think that’s a difficult reality.” Until then, however, the SEC has been providing guidance for crypto founders via their own staff statements. One statement back in February officially notified the public that memecoins were not to be seen as securities.Among the top priorities Peirce is pushing: Safe harbor rules that would give crypto startups room to grow without immediate fear of enforcement. “I'd love to have a safe harbor in place already,” she said. “Because I think it would get disclosures out there, which is what we really want to do.”Still, she cautioned, “Some things are harder than others. Some things just take more work. There are some things I wish were already done that aren’t.” Top of those issues continue to be either approving staking via Ethereum ETFs, and allowing for in-kind redemptions for Bitcoin ETFs. Commissioner Peirce declined to share timelines on tackling either, but admitted the discussions are progressing on revisiting those decisions.For projects building outside the traditional securities framework — like digital cooperatives — Peirce said the Commission is also trying to provide clearer boundaries. “There is this precedent out there that we can build on,” she said. “That’s what I want to do so that people can figure out if they’re not in the securities bucket at all.”To do that, she emphasized, builders need to be part of the conversation. “We don’t want to develop a solution just sitting here by ourselves,” she said. “We really need people to say, hey, this is what we could actually use, or this would be totally useless to us.”That openness — long missing at the SEC — is something she believes can now grow under new leadership. “For many years there’s been a sense from the Commission... saying, we don’t want this stuff to move forward. And now that’s flipped,” she said. “You're seeing really enthusiastic engagement from the staff trying to figure out some of these very difficult problems.”And while Congress continues working on bigger questions — like stablecoins and crypto trading infrastructure — Peirce said the SEC can focus on clearing the path for more unique projects. “We can be doing some of these short-term things,” she said. “And we can do that in a way that’s consistent with the longer-term vision that Congress has.”Still, Peirce warned, this isn’t a free-for-all. “Fraud is still fraud,” she said. “So no one should be reading this as an invitation to commit fraud.” Instead, she said, it’s a moment to reset how innovation and regulation interact. “This is a group project,” Peirce said. “It cannot be a regulator-only project. That’s been the problem in the past — we’ve not listened.”And if her invitation wasn’t already clear enough for projects like Coinage that are building to create a more positive future for crypto and users: “I hope others will take me up on that invitation, too, and come in and have the conversation. If you think we’re going about things the wrong way, tell us that.”