In a statement entitled “The Journey Begins,” on February 4, 2025, US Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC” or the “Commission”) Commissioner Hester Peirce provided new details regarding her thoughts on the agency’s evolving position on crypto. Commissioner Peirce is leading the SEC’s new Crypto Task Force (the “Task Force”), which she described as “want[ing] to travel to a destination where people have great freedom to experiment and build interesting things, and which will not be a haven for fraudsters,” while “working to help create a regulatory framework that both achieves the Commission’s important regulatory objectives—including protecting investors—and preserves industry’s ability to offer products and services.”
Commissioner Peirce’s statement outlined at least some of the Task Force’s goals; including, firstly, resolving “the status of crypto assets under the securities laws.”
Other Task Force goals Commissioner Peirce highlighted include:
- Identifying areas outside the Commission’s jurisdiction, including by utilizing the SEC staff’s no action letter process to seek staff views on specific situations;
- Possibly providing temporary prospective and retroactive Commission relief for certain token offerings, under which the tokens are deemed not to be securities, subject to issuers’ compliance with certain information and other requirements;
- Working to change the path to registered token or coin offerings, such as through the use of Regulation A and crowdfunding;
- Considering expanding the special-purpose broker dealer no action statement to cover broker-dealers that custody both crypto asset securities and crypto assets that are not securities;
- Working with investment advisers to provide a practical regulatory framework within which advisers can safely custody client assets;
- Clarifying whether and how crypto-lending and staking programs are covered by the federal securities laws;
- Working with the SEC staff to provide clear statements about the approach used when considering SRO applications to list new types of crypto exchange-traded products;
- Working on the intersection of crypto and clearing agency and transfer agent rules; and
- Considering the facilitation of cross-border crypto projects on a limited and temporary scale, with the chance of expansion to a long-term, permanent solution.
Importantly, Commissioner Peirce provided several avenues for the public to engage with the Task Force, including by email to crypto@sec.gov (noting that submissions will be posted publicly on sec.gov) and through in-person or virtual meetings, which can be requested at Request Form for Meetings with the Crypto Task Force (noting that those requesting a meeting are asked to provide a summary of the issues planned to be discussed, which will be posted publicly on sec.gov).
Read the speech here.