The SEC Is About to Be Two People. 'Crypto Mom' Hester Peirce Just Quit, and Nobody Has Been Nominated to Replace Her

Next Friday the US Securities and Exchange Commission, now the de facto rulemaker for US crypto, will be run by two people.

On September 25, Commissioner Hester Peirce, the industry’s “Crypto Mom,” posted her resignation letter on X with the caption “T minus 7.” Her last day is October 2, 2026.

When she leaves, the five-seat commission will have only Chairman Paul Atkins and Commissioner Mark Uyeda. Both are Republicans. The White House hasn’t named a successor, and there are no Democratic commissioners.

Under the SEC’s own rules, that’s enough to keep working.

Two Votes Can Pass Anything

SEC quorum rules (17 C.F.R. § 200.41) say that when fewer than three commissioners are in office, a quorum is however many are in office. So from October 2, two commissioners can propose, adopt and approve rules, exemptions and settlements.

No third vote and no dissents. Every crypto rule still in progress will go through a commission of two.

That includes a lot. The SEC under Atkins is working on Regulation Crypto Assets, a formal framework for crypto offerings. It just released the innovation exemption for tokenized stocks. And on the same day Peirce announced she was leaving, SEC staff published a new set of crypto FAQs. Those FAQs say a staking receipt token issued by a protocol-based liquid staking provider “may be classified as a digital commodity,” and that a token buyback on an already-functional network doesn’t by itself count as the managerial effort that makes something a security under Howey.

Staff FAQs have no legal force. They’re still the clearest guidance US crypto has, because Congress didn’t pass anything.

Why Her Exit Hits Harder Now

The timing is bad. Ten days ago, the CLARITY Act died in the Senate. The market structure bill the industry spent two years lobbying for is gone, and US crypto policy now comes from regulators, not legislation. The SEC’s rules are the ones that matter, and the CFTC sent its own crypto rules to the White House two days after the vote.

Peirce has been the SEC’s most consistent pro-crypto voice for about nine years. Trump appointed her in 2018. In 2019, when the agency was going after token issuers one lawsuit at a time, she said publicly: “The only guidance out of the SEC is a parade of enforcement actions.” Through the Gensler years she wrote dissent after dissent. In January 2025 she took over the SEC’s new Crypto Task Force, which was set up to find “workable solutions to difficult crypto regulatory problems.”

In other words, she spent years arguing for rules instead of enforcement, got the job of writing them, and is leaving before they’re finished.

Her letter:

“Maximizing people’s freedom to choose what is best for themselves and their families with sensible regulatory parameters designed to give them the confidence to transact with others is a delicate and vitally important task for the regulator. I leave this position confident that under the excellent leadership of Chairman Paul Atkins and Commissioner Mark Uyeda, the talented men and women of the Securities and Exchange Commission will continue to achieve that balance.”

She’s joining Regent University School of Law as an associate professor in November.

This Wasn’t a Surprise

Her second five-year term expired in June 2025. SEC commissioners can stay up to 18 months past the end of their term, which is why she was still there. The deadline was known. She’s leaving a few months before she’d have been forced out.

What’s less expected is that nobody has been lined up. Commissioner confirmations usually take six to twelve months. The SEC could be a two-person agency well into 2027.

What Changes for Crypto

Short term, probably not much. Atkins and Uyeda are both openly pro-innovation, and the task force continues under its current structure. Two commissioners who agree will move faster than five who don’t.

Longer term, there are real risks:

• Rules passed without a dissent are easier to attack. Anyone suing over a rule approved 2–0 by a commission with three empty seats will argue it lacked real deliberation. That doesn’t mean they’d win, but it’s an easy argument to make.
• Rules made by regulators can be undone by regulators. Without CLARITY, crypto’s legal status in the US depends on who holds these seats. A future administration can fill three empty seats and reverse course quickly. Builders deciding where to base a company will factor that in.
• The Crypto Task Force loses its public face. Peirce was the commissioner founders and lawyers dealt with. Whoever takes over her task force work (Atkins, Uyeda or senior staff) has a lot to catch up on at a busy time.

Why This Matters for Crypto Jobs

For the past 20 months, US crypto companies have been hiring on the assumption that the SEC is friendly and that rules are coming. That assumption holds for now, but it now rests on two people and has no law behind it.

What that means in practice:

• Regulatory and policy roles become more important. When the rules come from regulators, companies need people who follow every FAQ, no-action letter and comment period. Expect more hiring for policy leads, securities counsel and government-relations staff, especially people who’ve worked at the SEC or CFTC.
• Compliance teams hire for now and for later. Smart companies will build to today’s lighter rules while documenting everything in case the next commission is hostile. Compliance engineers and legal-ops people who can build that kind of audit trail will be in demand.
• Staking and liquid staking teams got good news the same day. The staking receipt token FAQ is the clearest US signal yet for LST protocols. Expect US-facing staking products, and the protocol engineers, DevRel and BD roles that come with them, to pick up.
• The revolving door is open. Peirce’s departure, plus a two-person commission, means SEC staff will be moving around. Former SEC staff are some of the most sought-after hires in crypto, and that market is about to get busier.

Your job may not be written into federal law, but the policy people, compliance teams and protocol engineers who work around these rules have plenty of work coming.

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