On 11 April 2025, United States Securities and Exchange Commission (US SEC) Commissioner Hester Maria Peirce delivered her opening remarks titled “The Mother” at the second session in an ongoing series of roundtables convened to address regulatory challenges and opportunities in the crypto asset market. Speaking from Washington, D.C., Commissioner Hester Maria Peirce opened the discussion by thanking US SEC staff, market participants, and members of the public who had engaged with the Crypto Task Force. She appreciated the diverse institutional participation in the roundtable, which comprises national securities exchanges, alternative trading venues, and crypto-native firms.
Commissioner Hester Maria Peirce stated that successful markets are marked by the capacity to support a wide array of business models and approaches to trading. She emphasised that the regulatory framework governing crypto asset markets in the United States must not hinder flexibility and innovation. Instead, it should foster competition, expand investor choice, and reflect the evolutionary nature of decentralised and centralised platforms alike. Her opening made clear that legal clarity must not come at the cost of market experimentation and technical progress.
Addressing one of the central technical issues, Commissioner Hester Maria Peirce turned to the emerging interest among market participants in conducting pairs trading i.e., trading securities against crypto assets such as stablecoins. While she clarified that United States SEC rules do not expressly prohibit this, she noted that traditional securities regulations, particularly those concerning recordkeeping, reporting, and the national market system, do not yet adequately account for such novel trading configurations. This, she suggested, opens the door for potential regulatory guidance or targeted modifications to bring legacy rules in alignment with current market practices.
In a critical portion of her remarks, Commissioner Hester Maria Peirce flagged broader concerns regarding authority and jurisdiction. She acknowledged that the United States SEC’s remit is confined to securities activity and questioned what steps the Commission can take in the short term to address the growing trend of integrated securities and non-securities trading by crypto firms. Commissioner Hester Maria Peirce openly called for Congressional engagement to plug regulatory gaps and resolve conflicts that may arise between multiple regulatory bodies, including state-level and federal authorities. She signalled a need for inter-agency clarity as the legal classification of crypto assets continues to evolve.
Commissioner Hester Maria Peirce also floated the idea of invoking the Commission’s exemptive powers to permit limited market testing by crypto intermediaries in the near term. These controlled trials would help firms assess the commercial and technical viability of various models while allowing the United States SEC to observe operational realities and refine its rulemaking accordingly. She invited participants to comment on what guardrails would be appropriate in such an approach, reflecting a collaborative, adaptive regulatory posture.
Demonstrating an institutional memory within the United States SEC, Commissioner Hester Maria Peirce referred to historical moments where the US SEC had previously adapted to technological disruption. She cited the 1984 release on computer brokerage systems, the 1998 statement on offering securities over the internet, and the eventual promulgation of Regulation ATS. Each of these instances demonstrated that regulation can evolve alongside innovation without compromising core principles of investor protection and market integrity. She urged the audience to extract lessons from these precedents to better integrate decentralised technologies into the current capital markets framework.
Concluding her speech with the metaphor that gave it its title, Commissioner Hester Maria Peirce likened the current set of regulatory issues to apple cider vinegar, particularly its probiotic-rich component known as “the mother.” Though it may appear unpalatable at first glance, she argued, the complexity inherent in the legal and technical questions surrounding crypto regulation is ultimately beneficial if digested thoughtfully. “We are looking at an unsightly legal and technical knot of issues,” she said, “but the conversation—among our expert panel—will be good for us.” The analogy was intended to encourage stakeholders to confront regulatory complexity rather than shy away from it.
Commissioner Hester Maria Peirce’s speech at the 11 April 2025 roundtable reminded the United States SEC as an agency that must remain flexible, engage with innovators, and coordinate with lawmakers, all while ensuring that the underlying principles of market transparency, fairness, and investor protection are upheld. Her remarks now stand as a pivotal intervention in the regulatory discourse shaping the next chapter of crypto trading in the United States.
(Source: https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/speeches-statements/peirce-opening-remarks-trading-roundtable-041125)
