SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce says there is no good time to leave

Peirce said there is no good time to leave because agency work remains. She said she still had work on her plate that would continue after her departure. On Friday, Peirce posted on X a letter she sent to President Donald Trump resigning from the commission. Peirce said the SEC's innovation exemption is limited to five years. She said the SEC should begin work right away on a permanent set of rules. She said finalizing transfer agent rules remained important. She also said the SEC had work to do on investment adviser and investment company custody. Peirce said she wanted to start a compliance officer advisory committee. She said the SEC had taken a more proactive approach to developing crypto regulations over almost two years. She said the agency had made progress by working with people on sensible rules. Peirce said the crypto industry in the United States lost ground during what she viewed as unnecessary regulatory and enforcement battles. The Clarity Act had stalled in the Senate and was unlikely to become law. Peirce said she remained hopeful the legislation could pass. She said the SEC should continue using its existing authority to adopt rules. Peirce said the Commodity Futures Trading Commission could establish some parts of a comprehensive spot-market regulatory framework. She said developers who only build tools should be protected when others use them for wrongdoing. She said developers who participate in misconduct should not receive that protection. Peirce called for reviewing financial surveillance practices to better protect Americans' privacy. She also said law enforcement should have effective tools to do its work. Peirce said transactions involving intermediaries should be regulated like existing intermediary-based transactions. She said regulators should distinguish those transactions from peer-to-protocol transactions without intermediaries. She said people who choose self-custody or trading without intermediaries should understand the risks and consequences. Peirce is headed to Regent University School of Law as an associate professor in November. She said the agency's work would continue after she left and described one commissioner's departure as a non-event.