Hester Peirce called self-custody a “very fundamental American right” and said she doesn’t want the SEC to become a “developer approval agency.”
- SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce said she was “surprised” that the CLARITY Act failed to advance in the Senate.
- She said the SEC can do a lot without a market structure bill and is turning its attention there.
- She mocked the rules that stopped Americans from investing in startups while leaving them free to gamble at casinos.
Hester Peirce, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Commissioner, said she was “surprised” that the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, or CLARITY Act, failed to advance in the Senate. She also said the rules shouldn’t “infantilize investors” by stopping Americans from investing outside of public markets, but still allow them to gamble at casinos.
“I did expect that it would pass. I was surprised with the outcome,” said Peirce in an interview on The Wolf of All Streets on Sunday. Previously, the Senate failed to advance the CLARITY Act in a 49-50 procedural vote, falling short of the 60 votes needed to invoke cloture.
Peirce said a crypto market structure bill would be helpful but added that the SEC could “do a lot even without having that in place, and so that is where we’re turning our attention.” The interview came days after Peirce posted her resignation letter on X on Friday, saying she would leave the SEC effective October 2.
Peirce Questions Rules Limiting Investments
Beyond crypto market structure, Peirce also took aim at what she described as an inconsistency in how U.S. rules treat investment risk and other forms of financial risk-taking. Peirce said she wanted to make it easier for entrepreneurs to raise capital while protecting investors without “infantilizing investors.”
“Sometimes I think we want to step in and say, ‘Well, you as an American are not allowed to put your money into something that you believe in. But yeah, feel free to run down to the casino and spend all your money there,'” she added.
Self-Custody A ‘Fundamental Right’
Peirce also outlined some of the principles she believed should guide crypto regulation even after her departure. She advocated for self-custody and said it is a “very fundamental American right.”
The SEC Commissioner said everyone has the right to hold their own assets, adding, “I don’t know that you should need a regulator to tell you that you’re allowed to hold your own assets.”
Peirce also pushed back against regulatory oversight of software development. “I don’t want us to turn into a developer approval agency where people have to come to us before they write software,” she said.
SEC Crypto Fundraising Proposal
While Pierce argued against extending regulatory oversight too far, she pointed to the SEC’s recent rulemaking efforts as evidence that the agency could still make progress on crypto regulation without the CLARITY Act.
The regulatory debate came as Bitcoin’s price traded over $84,000, largely flat in the last 24 hours. On Stocktwits, the retail sentiment around BTC remained in the ‘bullish’ zone, with chatter at ‘normal’ levels over the past day.
Read also: Grant Cardone Says Commercial Real Estate Faces Historic Crash – Sees Bitcoin As A ‘Complementary Asset’
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