SEC Determined to Develop Practical Crypto Regulations, Say Commissioners at Roundtable

The Securities and Exchange Commission's inaugural meeting on crypto matters began with commissioners affirming their commitment to establishing effective regulations.

Key Takeaways:

• The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is engaging with the crypto industry to refine how securities laws apply to the sector, according to Commissioner Hester Peirce, who leads the agency’s crypto task force.
• A panel of 12 attorneys from various corners of the crypto industry shared insights during the roundtable discussion.
• The SEC may soon issue a staff statement on non-fungible tokens (NFTs), Peirce revealed to reporters.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission staff are seizing the opportunity to collaborate with the crypto industry in developing policies for regulating digital asset transactions, said Commissioner Hester Peirce, who leads the agency’s crypto task force.

The SEC is prepared "to seek earnestly to find a workable framework," Commissioner Hester Peirce stated at the agency's inaugural crypto-focused roundtable on Friday. "I think we're ready for the spring ahead," she added, referencing the event’s title, "Spring Sprint Toward Crypto Clarity."

According to Peirce, the key challenge is: "Can we translate the characteristics of a security into a simple taxonomy that will encompass the many different types of crypto assets that exist today and may emerge in the future?"

Mark Uyeda, the agency's acting chairman, told reporters that while recent SEC policy statements have indicated that certain areas of the crypto industry—such as memecoins and mining—do not fall under securities laws, it remains a "definite possibility" that other aspects could be classified as securities.

"We're moving on multiple tracks here," Uyeda said in response to a question. He noted that each statement issued so far has been a staff statement without legal authority. However, he emphasized that the roundtable reflects the full commission—currently made up of three members—considering what a formal commission interpretation might look like.

During his opening remarks, Uyeda, who was appointed by President Donald Trump while the agency awaits Senate confirmation of Paul Atkins, argued that the SEC should have been more transparent in recent years about its interpretations.

"When judicial opinions have created uncertainty for market participants in the past, the commission and its staff have stepped in to provide guidance," Uyeda said. He added that rather than relying on enforcement actions, the agency should have used formal rulemaking and public statements to clarify how crypto assets fit under federal securities laws.

Panel Discussion

A panel of 12 securities attorneys from the crypto industry shared insights on the key legal challenges they encounter while advising companies.

Moderator Troy Paredes, a former SEC commissioner and current head of Paredes Strategies, posed a central question to Sarah Brennan, general counsel at Delphi Ventures and one of the 11 panelists:

"What's the biggest question you face in trying to wrestle with this issue?"

Panelists speak at the SEC Crypto Task Force's first roundtable discussion

Sarah Brennan explained that the uncertainty surrounding securities laws has pushed early-stage crypto projects to follow a trajectory similar to initial public offerings (IPOs) by staying private longer.

“These assets, in a traditional model, are meant for wide early distribution,” she said. “However, most of the market is hedging against securities law enforcement, leading to a structure that mirrors traditional financial markets, where projects navigate toward exchange listings without broad dissemination, price support, or even fully launching their technology.”

The panel included both critics of the crypto industry and attorneys who have worked to develop the sector.

Former SEC attorney John Reed Stark argued that securities regulations were meant to encompass all types of investments, whether “yield farms, ostrich farms, or orange groves.” His primary concern is that, even in 2025, much of the crypto market still lacks real utility.

"If the entire crypto market disappeared tomorrow and you weren’t speculating in it, you wouldn’t care," John Reed Stark remarked.

Legislator Questions

Before the roundtable, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Jake Auchincloss, both Massachusetts Democrats, sent an open letter to Mark Uyeda questioning the SEC’s staff statement on memecoins and how it was developed.

Their letter inquired whether:

• SEC officials communicated with the White House regarding the statement.
• The White House’s crypto working group directed the SEC’s actions.
• The staff statement should have been incorporated into formal rulemaking instead.

Additionally, they asked the SEC to clarify:

• How memecoins are distinct from general cryptocurrency under SEC guidelines.
• How the agency differentiates between genuine memecoins and tokens that do not meet its criteria.
• Which specific memecoins were analyzed when drafting the statement.

NFTs Next?

Commissioner Hester Peirce suggested that the next SEC policy statement—following those on memecoins and mining—could address non-fungible tokens (NFTs), given the need for regulatory clarity.

"I think we'll see that we could do it on NFTs as well," Peirce told reporters at the roundtable. "We could have done that a long time ago."

When asked whether non-binding staff statements were the right approach for signaling agency policy, Peirce responded that this was a reaction to previous years, during which the SEC was hesitant to address crypto-related issues publicly.

Commissioner Hester Peirce acknowledged the importance of notice-and-comment rulemaking but argued that it isn’t necessary when the SEC is simply clarifying its interpretation of existing laws.

"There is certainly a role for notice-and-comment rulemaking, but not when you're just saying, 'This is how we're looking at the law,'" she said. "You don't need that."

Peirce also responded to reports that federal budget cuts could lead to hundreds of staff reductions at the SEC.

"It's always sad to me when you lose someone with a lot of experience, but people do come and go from the SEC," she said. "They do retire, and so we have to have a deep bench."