Hester Peirce, the SEC commissioner widely known in the crypto industry as “Crypto Mom,” is stepping down from the US Securities and Exchange Commission after roughly eight years at the agency.
Peirce announced her resignation on Friday, saying her departure will take effect on Oct. 2. In her resignation letter, she thanked the president for the opportunity to serve and praised SEC Chairman Paul Atkins and Commissioner Mark Uyeda, who currently make up the agency’s remaining leadership alongside her.
Her departure marks the end of a significant period for the SEC’s crypto policy. Peirce became director of the agency’s Crypto Task Force on Feb. 4, 2025, where she was involved in efforts to clarify how existing securities regulations should apply to digital assets and decentralized technologies.
Although Peirce’s official SEC term expired in June 2025, federal law allowed her to remain in office until a successor was appointed. She will now leave the agency without an immediate replacement announced for her seat.
Peirce is expected to move into academia next. She is scheduled to join Regent University’s law school in Virginia as an associate professor in November, where she is expected to focus on areas including securities regulation, federal litigation and digital assets.
Her resignation comes during a broader shift in the SEC’s approach to cryptocurrency under Chairman Paul Atkins. Since President Donald Trump took office in January 2025, the agency has scaled back several crypto-related enforcement actions and investigations while placing greater emphasis on developing clearer rules for the industry.
Peirce has also been outspoken on issues surrounding decentralized technology. In June, she argued that publishing open-source blockchain code should not, by itself, expose software developers to federal securities regulation. Her position reflects the wider debate over how US securities laws should apply to developers and decentralized networks.
With Peirce preparing to leave and the SEC continuing to redefine its approach to digital assets, her resignation represents another notable change in the agency’s evolving crypto policy landscape.
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