Most meme tokens likely fall outside the jurisdiction of the SEC, stated Commissioner Hester Peirce in an interview with Bloomberg.
The host’s question concerned potential challenges for the Commission posed by official tokens of current President Donald Trump (TRUMP) and First Lady (MELANIA). Peirce noted the critical importance of determining the asset category:
“Many people are currently issuing meme coins. Facts and circumstances matter. We must always consider them. But many of these tokens likely do not fall under the SEC’s purview according to existing rules.”
According to her, Congress might provide regulatory clarity, or oversight of this segment might be assumed by the CFTC.
In January, Peirce took the lead of the SEC’s cryptocurrency task force. One of the structure’s priorities, she mentioned, is classifying which digital assets should be considered securities.
Former Chairman Gary Gensler repeatedly stated that the vast majority of cryptocurrencies fall into this category. For this reason, during his tenure, the SEC took enforcement actions against several major industry players like Binance, Coinbase, and Kraken.
Regulatory Prospects
Peirce described the approach to industry regulation practiced under Gensler as “atypical.” She emphasized that the SEC “is trying to return to using other tools to create policy.”
“I am a freedom maximalist, but I think the approach we took to cryptocurrencies was a way of using regulation to prevent people from doing interesting things,” the Commissioner stated.
On February 11, Binance and the SEC filed a joint motion to pause legal proceedings for 60 days. The parties cited the formation of a group led by Peirce, whose work might lead to adjustments in existing norms.
However, in the interview, the Commissioner declined to comment on the SEC’s readiness to fully drop claims against Binance and other lawsuit subjects. For instance, in 2023, the agency sued Coinbase. The charges included operating an unregistered exchange.
“These are facts and circumstances. We will consider each case on its merits and move forward,” said Peirce.
Back in the day, Trump formed a working group on digital asset markets led by “crypto czar” David Sachs. The structure will propose recommendations for regulatory changes in the sector.
Among the top priorities: assessing the creation of a national Bitcoin reserve and legislation for stablecoin circulation.