U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Commissioner Peirce points to pullback from expansive crypto exchange registration and broad digital asset securities interpretations

In remarks at the Coin Center dinner, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Commissioner Hester M. Peirce described what she sees as a shift toward narrower applications of the securities laws to digital assets, including moving away from efforts to treat decentralised communication protocols as regulated exchanges. She noted the views were her own and not necessarily those of the SEC or other Commissioners. Peirce contrasted the current approach with earlier periods when, in her telling, tokens and certain non-fungible tokens (NFTs) were treated as securities and enforcement actions chilled NFT activity. She cited the SEC’s prior proposal to expand the definition of “exchange” to bring “communication protocols” into scope and said the agency has since moved on from that approach, while pointing to Chairman Paul Atkins’s acknowledgement that most digital assets are not securities. Peirce also said her term as Commissioner ended in June and referenced statutory provisions that allow her to continue serving until she is removed, a replacement is confirmed, or the next session of Congress begins, and she noted reports of House and Senate efforts to find common ground on crypto legislation.