SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce Apologizes for Agency’s Past Actions While Revealing Personal NFT Strategy
SEC's crypto-friendly commissioner drops regulatory bombshell while embracing the very technology her agency struggles to regulate.
Regulatory Reversal
Hester Peirce delivers unprecedented mea culpa for SEC's aggressive enforcement approach—calling past actions 'misguided' while announcing her own NFT collection plans. The irony wasn't lost on crypto veterans who've weathered the commission's crackdowns.
Personal Blockchain Leap
Peirce confirms she's minting personal NFTs despite SEC's ongoing regulatory ambiguity. The move signals deeper institutional acceptance even as traditional finance scrambles to understand the technology. Wall Street analysts meanwhile continue valuing NFTs as 'digital beanie babies' while missing the entire point of blockchain authentication.
The commissioner's dual message—critiquing her own agency while personally adopting disruptive technology—creates the most compelling regulatory narrative crypto has seen in years. Regulators finally getting their hands dirty with the technology they oversee? That's progress even Wall Street can't short.
Hester Peirce’s NFT Dream
In a speech at the Coin Center, Peirce decided to respond to curious enquiries on her next plan after leaving the SEC. Notably, the “CryptoMom” and present head of the Commission’s Crypto Task Force has since completed her tenure as an SEC Commissioner and only remains in service pending the appointment of her replacement.
Speaking to her plans post-SEC, Hester Peirce referenced her long-standing passion for beekeeping, which may prove futile due to a lack of experience. She also nudged the idea of functioning as an exchange simply by “wearing a T-shirt,” which was an intended jab at the previous SEC’s practice under Gary Gensler, which attempted to “contort the law” by forcing crypto exchanges to register under the Securities Act with the Commission.
Finally, the SEC Commissioner speaks to a Plan C known as Plan NFT. She began by first noting the regulatory progress on this class of digital assets, saying:
Several years ago, the SEC managed to squelch NFTs with some strategic guidance in the form, of course, of an enforcement action: Digital cats, at least stoned ones, and other NFTs were securities. A more sober view of the securities laws now prevails. Chairman Atkins has recently acknowledged that most digital assets are not securities.
In Hester Peirce’s proposed “NFT collection”, the first token is designed after her and named “CryptoMom.” In total, the Crypto Task Force boss speaks about 18 NFT characters, all based on various personalities she has encountered during her time in exploring the cryptocurrency industry.
Peirce Apologizes To The Crypto Community
In rounding off a rather light-hearted speech, Commissioner Hester Peirce gave a rather heartfelt apology for the rather harsh approach of the immediate SEC tenure to the digital asset space.
The “CryptoMom” also urged present crypto founders, developers, and users to capitalize on the ongoing efforts of regulatory clarity to showcase the best prospects of this technology.
Her statement read:
I am sorry that over most of my tenure at the SEC I failed to convince my colleagues in government to give you a chance. I hope that you and others whom you have inspired will use this time—a time in which regulatory clarity has replaced ambiguity as government’s objective—to build good things that will enhance the safety, security, happiness, and prosperity of your family, friends, neighbors, and nation. Show the skeptics that technologies that enable us to engage permissionlessly and privately with our peers are worth preserving and celebrating.
At press time, the total crypto market cap remains valued at $3.78 trillion after a 0.53% gain in the past day.
