SEC’s Hester Peirce Criticizes Agency’s Crypto Approach as “Strange”
US Securities and Exchange Commissioner Hester Peirce has reiterated her criticisms of her own agency’s approach to cryptocurrencies in a recent appearance at ETH Denver.
Peirce expressed frustration over the SEC’s tendency to “regulate by enforcement” and criticized the slow approval process for spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
During a conversation with CNBC’s MacKenzie Sigalos , Peirce highlighted the SEC’s handling of the Grayscale case, which led to the approval of a Bitcoin exchange-traded product.
“It’s remarkable to me that it took a court to tell us that we had to do that,” Peirce said.
“I started in 2018. That summer, we had our first Bitcoin exchange-traded product come before us as a commission. And I thought back then—which was quite a long time ago now—we should have said yes to it.”
Peirce refrained from commenting on pending applications for Ethereum spot ETFs, stating that they are currently under consideration at the SEC.
One of the main barriers within the cryptocurrency industry is the SEC’s reliance on enforcement actions instead of establishing clear regulatory guidelines in advance.
Peirce criticized the agency for its reactive approach and emphasized the importance of having clear rules that can be followed, rather than relying on enforcement actions after the fact.
“If you really want to sort the bad behavior from the good behavior, having rules that are clear to people who want to follow them is a much better approach than doing this, parachute in later with enforcement.”
Peirce called for collaboration between crypto enthusiasts and policymakers to develop ideas that can be implemented when SEC Chair Gary Gensler changes his stance on cryptocurrencies.
She mentioned the
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