SEC’s ‘Crypto Mom’ to Join Law School, Signaling End of Time at Regulator

Hester Peirce, a two-term commissioner at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), head of the agency’s crypto task force and known to many as “Crypto Mom,” will join the Regent University School of Law as faculty.

In a Tuesday notice from Regent University, the law school said that Peirce would join as an associate professor starting in November. Her term at the SEC officially expired in June 2025, but commissioners “may continue to serve up to approximately 18 months after terms expire if they are not replaced before then,” according to the agency.

She joined the SEC in January 2018, after her nomination by President Donald Trump and Senate confirmation in December 2017. She was confirmed for her second term in 2020. She was initially nominated by President Barack Obama for a Republican seat on the SEC in 2015, but the US Senate did not act on her nomination.

Peirce is expected to help the law school bolster its academic focus in several areas, including federal litigation, securities regulation and digital assets, according to the university.

Source: Hester Peirce

Peirce’s seat may not be filled immediately. Caroline Crenshaw, the agency’s previous Democratic commissioner, departed in January, 18 months after her term ended and no nominations to fill that seat have been made by President Trump. Peirce’s departure will leave only two Republican commissioners at the SEC: Mark Uyeda and Chair Paul Atkins.  

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Since Trump took office in January 2025, the SEC has radically changed its approach to crypto regulation and enforcement. The agency dropped several enforcement actions and investigations into crypto companies, including those tied to Trump and his family.

CFTC also faces raft of vacancies

Together, the SEC and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) are the two most prominent federal financial regulators overseeing aspects of the crypto industry. Under Atkins and CFTC Chair Michael Selig, both Trump picks, the agencies said that they would coordinate on approaches to end what they called “regulatory turf wars.”

Source: Paul Atkins

However, with a digital asset market structure bill moving through Congress, many lawmakers are calling on Trump to nominate a bipartisan group of commissioners to fully staff the agencies.

Selig remains the sole CFTC commissioner and chair in a panel intended to be made up of five people, and with the impending departure of Peirce, the SEC will be down to two out of five commissioners. Trump had not announced any nominations to either agency as of Wednesday.

The market structure bill, the CLARITY Act, is expected to shift many of the responsibilities and authority regulating crypto markets from the SEC to CFTC.

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