Hester Peirce — the SEC commissioner known across the industry as “Crypto Mom” — will leave the agency this fall to teach at Regent University School of Law. Regent announced the hire in a May 19 press release alongside another faculty appointment, Gregory F. Jacob. Peirce’s second five-year term expired in June 2025, and she’s been serving in a holdover capacity ever since. She made clear in March 2025 she wasn’t seeking reappointment.
Five-year term that ran long
Peirce has been on the SEC since 2018. Her first term ended in 2023; she was reappointed for a second that wrapped up in June 2025. By law she could stay on until a successor was confirmed, but she signaled her exit early. Now it’s official: she’ll be an associate professor starting November 2026. The timing leaves the SEC with three commissioners — a Democratic majority after a recent Democratic departure, but a thin bench for a five-seat agency.
What Peirce built at the SEC
Peirce is best known for her token safe harbor proposal, which would have given crypto projects three years to decentralize before facing securities registration requirements. That rule never got a vote, but it shaped the conversation. She also dissented repeatedly against SEC enforcement actions on crypto — dissents that industry insiders credit with laying the groundwork for the spot Bitcoin ETF approvals in 2024.
In January 2025 the SEC launched a Crypto Task Force, and Peirce was put in charge. Under her leadership the task force held public roundtables and rescinded controversial bank custody guidance that had effectively barred U.S. banks from holding crypto. The task force is still active; it’s not clear who will take over once she leaves.
What the industry is losing
Peirce was the most consistently crypto-friendly voice on the commission. She voted against dozens of enforcement actions, arguing the SEC was regulating by enforcement rather than providing clear rules. Her departure leaves Gary Gensler — or whoever chairs the SEC come 2026 — with one fewer internal counterweight on digital asset policy.
Senator Cynthia Lummis, another prominent crypto ally in Washington, has signaled she’ll retire from public office in 2027. The two exits bookend a shift: the industry’s strongest advocates inside government are moving on.
What comes next
Peirce will formally join Regent’s faculty in November 2026. She’ll teach securities law and potentially shape the next wave of legal thinking on crypto. For now, the SEC’s Crypto Task Force still exists, still holding events, but without its founding leader. The commission will have to decide whether to keep the task force running or fold its work back into the standard enforcement division.
