As part of our recent Navigating the Future Digital Finance Landscape event jointly hosted with GBBC, we were delighted to welcome Commissioner Hester Peirce of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to discuss the SEC's evolving approach to digital finance. 

Our key takeaways

• The SEC’s Crypto Task Force is shifting the tone: A year in, the goal is to bring clarity to long‑standing questions around jurisdiction and regulatory expectations, with an explicit shift toward leading with regulation, not enforcement. But industry input is essential for the SEC to help identify areas of priority.
• Clarity over boundaries is a priority: The Task Force is focused on helping firms understand what is inside and outside the SEC’s remit vs the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's (CFTC). Commissioner Peirce framed success as reaching a point where businesses understand the regulatory framework without endless interpretation exercises. While using tokenization or blockchain technology does not exempt firms from existing securities laws, the SEC recognises that some rules may need adjustment to reflect specific features of the technology.
• The SEC can move forward even without new legislation: While Congress works on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act to help formally define regulatory jurisdiction, the SEC and the CFTC already have tools to provide guidance, enable capital raising via tokens and support experimentation.
• Cross‑border alignment matters: Given the integrated nature of US, UK and EU markets, the SEC is keen on deeper cooperation, including the possibility of a cross‑border sandbox with the UK.
• Short and long term priorities: Before her term ends, Commissioner Peirce hopes to advance new rule proposals, progress a proposed innovation exemption (a controlled exemption to allow firms to test trading tokenised securities) and strengthen coordination with the CFTC, even though full implementation will extend beyond her tenure. Long term success means tokenization and crypto expertise being embedded across the SEC, much like internet‑related supervision became routine.

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U.S. SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce in conversation with Emma Joyce.

Speakers:

• Emma Joyce, CRO and Head of EMEA, Global Blockchain Business Council
• Hester M. Peirce, Commissioner, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

Hester M. Peirce was appointed by President Donald J. Trump to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and was sworn in on January 11, 2018.

Prior to joining the SEC, Commissioner Peirce conducted research on the regulation of financial markets at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. She was a Senior Counsel on the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, where she advised Ranking Member Richard Shelby and other members of the Committee on securities issues. Commissioner Peirce served as counsel to SEC Commissioner Paul S. Atkins. She also worked as a Staff Attorney in the SEC’s Division of Investment Management. Commissioner Peirce was an associate at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering (now WilmerHale) and clerked for Judge Roger Andewelt on the Court of Federal Claims.

Explore the other sessions from our event

• Fireside Chat with Val Smith, UK Financial Conduct Authority
• Panel: The Vision the UK needs
• Panel: The Global Regulatory Landscape
• Panel: Stablecoins and Tokenised Deposits: What is the ecosystem going to look like?
• Panel: TradFi Meets Crypto: Convergence or Coexistence?