SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce to Step Down on October 2

SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce announced her resignation on September 25, posting her resignation letter on X with the caption “T minus 7,” a countdown to her final day at the agency on October 2. Peirce, widely known as “Crypto Mom” for her push for clearer, rules-based digital-asset regulation, has served on the commission since January 2018. Her departure will leave the SEC with just two sitting commissioners, Chairman Paul Atkins and Commissioner Mark Uyeda, and no successor yet named.

Eight years of dissent and Crypto Task Force leadership

Peirce spent more than eight years as the commission’s most consistent advocate for written crypto rules, frequently dissenting from what she saw as enforcement-first decisions, including the agency’s earlier refusals to approve spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds. In January 2025 she took charge of the Crypto Task Force, the group behind much of its digital-asset policy work, including its warnings on securities risk in crypto yield vaults and onchain lending. Her second term expired on June 5, 2025, but SEC rules allow a commissioner to serve up to about 18 months past a term’s end when no replacement has been confirmed.

“The honor of my professional lifetime”