Hester Peirce resigned from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission effective October 2, 2025, leaving the agency with just two listed commissioners: Chairman Paul Atkins and Commissioner Mark Uyeda. The same day, a new quorum amendment took effect that changes how the SEC can convene a quorum when members are disqualified from a matter.
The amendment, dated September 30 and effective October 2, modifies 17 CFR 200.41 to allow one eligible commissioner to constitute a quorum if every other sitting member is disqualified. Under the current two-person roster, that means if Atkins is disqualified from a matter, Uyeda can alone form its quorum — and vice versa.
Why the SEC changed the quorum rule
The existing vacancy exception already let the number of commissioners in office constitute a quorum when fewer than three were serving. The new amendment extends the disqualification provision from two eligible commissioners to one. The SEC justified the change as promoting flexibility and finality, and said it concerns internal management and organization rather than substantive regulation.
One limit: an eligible commissioner's disagreement with a proposal doesn't meet the disqualification condition. In practice, that means a single commissioner can't unilaterally sidestep a colleague simply because they disagree — the trigger is formal disqualification, not policy differences.
The custody proposal still needs public input
Peirce left with a rulemaking already in motion. On October 1, before her resignation took effect, the commission released IA-7023, a proposal addressing how regulated investment companies and registered advisers may custody crypto securities and similar investments, along with related modernization and reporting requirements. The October voting record shows Atkins, Peirce and Uyeda all approving the release.
Public comments on that custody proposal are now listed for December 7. That date is the next concrete checkpoint for anyone tracking how the SEC will treat crypto custody under its current leadership.
Other crypto measures in the pipeline
A second pending measure, Regulation Crypto Assets, was issued August 18 and published August 21. It would create offering exemptions for certain investment contracts involving crypto assets, with disclosure requirements and continuing antifraud and antimanipulation obligations. It also proposes a conditional safe harbor concerning investment-contract status.
A third item, the September 17 Innovation Exemption, is a temporary conditional exemptive order covering specified tokenized National Market System stock trading venues and certain liquidity providers. It provides five-year conditional relief with limits on stock symbols and volume, equivalent shareholder rights, public auditable smart contracts, operating disclosures, and — for stock tokenized by an unaffiliated third party — requires issuer notice and an opportunity to object.
What a two-person commission can actually do
With Peirce gone, Atkins and Uyeda are the only listed commissioners as of the October 3 roster update. The quorum amendment's practical effect is narrow but real: it prevents a single disqualification from freezing a matter entirely. It doesn't hand either commissioner a free pass to ignore the other's objections, since disagreement alone isn't disqualification.
Peirce's resignation letter, dated September 21, expressed confidence that Atkins, Uyeda and SEC staff will continue to balance individual choice with sensible regulatory protections. The commission now has until December 7 to collect comments on the custody proposal — the first major test of how the trimmed-down panel handles crypto policy on its own.
