The SEC's new approach with the crypto task force

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently announced in March that their Crypto Task Force (CTF) will begin to host a series of roundtable discussions titled, "Spring Sprint Toward Crypto Clarity” to review key areas of interest in the regulation of crypto assets. The first event will occur on Mar. 21, 2025, with subsequent dates to be announced shortly. There will be a limited number of in-person participants and the discussion will be streamed live on SEC.gov, with a recording available after. The commissioner of the CTF, Hester M. Peirce, stated, “I am looking forward to drawing on the expertise of the public in developing a workable regulatory framework for crypto.” 

The CTF was launched on Jan. 21, 2025, to help the SEC “draw clear regulatory lines, provide realistic paths to registration, craft sensible disclosure frameworks and deploy enforcement resources judiciously.” They will help create a new approach to the regulation of crypto assets by working with the SEC staff as well as the public to make sure that a variety of perspectives and ideas are being considered. The regulations would relate to a variety of different types of assets that are commonly referred to as, “digital assets, crypto assets, cryptocurrencies, digital coins and tokens, as well as protocols.” Prior to this task force, the SEC had relied primarily on enforcement actions to regulate these assets with often it not being clear as to how to interpret current rules. The CTF will work under the statutory framework provided by the Congress and work with other federal departments and agencies such as Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and state and international counterparts to define the rules to remove as much ambiguity as possible.  

Commissioner Pierce noted, “this undertaking will take time, patience and much hard work. It will succeed only if the Task Force has input from a wide range of investors, industry participants, academics and other interested parties. We look forward to working hand-in-hand with the public to foster a regulatory environment that protects investors, facilitates capital formation, fosters market integrity and supports innovation.” The CTF is focusing on receiving input from as many avenues as they can. They have set up the roundtable discussion series, have a website to provide written input or request a meeting with the CTF and publish meetings logs. The CTF has been forthcoming with their intentions and desire for inputs from multiple sources and making themselves available to read or hear any ideas.  

A statement in February 2025 was issued by Commissioner Peirce outlining the challenges and questions that the CTF has considered and welcomes input from the public and a wide range of perspectives. He even specifically mentions wanting input from skeptics of the topic as he feels this will lead to richer overall assessments. He posed 48 questions to outline what the CTF has been discussing and considering. Their hope is to receive additional insight and commentary from the public as they work to address these questions as soon as they can. They are looking for creative solutions, as they realize that there are many challenges that should be considered and may affect individuals in different ways. The CTF three-part mission is to “1) protect investors, 2) maintaining fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and 3) facilitating capital formation.” They hope to be able to make “rapid progress” on these questions, so they have asked for input as soon as possible, but are open to receiving input at any time. For the full details of Commissioner Peirce’s statement, please see There Must Be Some Way Out of Here. 

The public has been asking for clearer guidelines associated with crypto assets, and with the creation of the CTF, it shows that the SEC is focusing on providing this guidance. They aim to quickly and efficiently create guidelines that can help the public and allow the SEC to enforce rules to obtain clear expectations. This has been a topic that has been slowly evolving over time, and it is good to see specific attention is being paid to this to ensure input from all parties as these rules and regulations are created.  

Information included in this article was derived from SEC Crypto Task Force website. For future roundtable dates and updates relating to the CTF please see Crypto Task Force.