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Crypto Defender Hester Peirce to Exit SEC, Leaving More Empty Seats, Less Debate
The Securities and Exchange Commission is already operating without its full complement of leaders, and in a few months another will be gone. Commissioner Hester Peirce, a stalwart crypto backer and a reliably vocal dissenter to many of the commission’s actions during the Biden administration, is leaving the agency in November.
Peirce has taken a faculty position at Regent University, a Christian academy in Virginia Beach, Va., the school announced last week.
That Peirce is leaving isn’t a surprise—she has served as a commissioner since 2018 and has stayed on after her term expired last June. (Commissioners can remain at the agency for up to 18 months after their term expires.) However, it raises the question of what the commission will look like after her departure.
Since Caroline Crenshaw, a Democrat, left the SEC in early January, the commission has been led by three Republicans: Chairman Paul Atkins and Commissioners Peirce and Mark Uyeda, who led the panel on an interim basis before Atkins became chairman, and has generally been supportive of his agenda. A fully staffed SEC would have five commissioners—who are confirmed by the Senate—typically three members of the president’s party and two of the minority.
Read more on what STP’s subject matter expert, Lori Weston had to say here.
