By coinnews 
After years of tension between crypto founders and federal regulators, the pro-crypto shift in the United States led by SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce is accelerating. And this time, it’s coming with support from the top.
“This is really an important thing for me to get things done quickly,” said Commissioner Hester Peirce, who now heads the agency’s Crypto Task Force. “But also… it’s something that the administration more generally is interested in moving forward quickly.”
In a new exclusive Coinage interview, Commissioner Peirce expanded on accelerating pro-crypto changes now that the new Trump-appointed SEC Chair, Paul Atkins, has officially assumed his role. Just a few days in, Atkins attended his first crypto roundtable to signal support. “He came to express his support for the roundtable and for what we’re trying to investigate,” Peirce said. “He’s made it clear that this is a priority for him to try to bring clarity to this space.”
Clarity has long been the missing ingredient, according to Commissioner Peirce, especially for founders in the US trying to launch compliant crypto projects. “Before, if you were offering something of real value, you were more worried about getting hauled into the SEC for an enforcement discussion,” she said. “Now, I would like to flip that so it really encourages people to pour their talents into building things that are useful.”
Walking the walk, Coinage headed down to the SEC’s office for a meeting with the Crypto Task Force along with other US DAO Cooperative founders, like ETHDenver’s John Paller, and Graham Novak, the founder of ConstitutionDAO, to secure a roadmap from the SEC for clearer rules to bring cooperatives onchain. (Coinage and ETHDenver are both Colorado-registered limited cooperative associations under a new digital framework. Our meeting came as more builders are finally taking the agency up on its offer to engage directly.)
“I think a lot of other projects are taking us up on it,” Peirce said. “We’re trying to keep this as transparent as possible.” But transparency doesn’t mean instant answers. “We have to prioritize,” she said. “We might not be able to provide the relief that a particular person wants right away. And I think that’s a difficult reality.” Until then, however, the SEC has been providing guidance for crypto founders via their own staff statements. One statement back in February officially notified the public that memecoins were not to be seen as securities.
Among the top priorities Peirce is pushing: Safe harbor rules that would give crypto startups room to grow without immediate fear of enforcement. “I’d love to have a safe harbor in place already,” she said. “Because I think it would get disclosures out there, which is what we really want to do.”