LAS VEGAS, Nevada — You shouldn't be a crypto libertarian that comes crying for government help when things go badly, according to Hester Peirce, the chief of the crypto task force at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. "I do think that sometimes, when something bad happens in this space, people who are remarkably free thinkers, libertarian-minded people, come in and say, ‘Where was the government? Why weren’t you protecting me? Hey, Crypto Mom, where’s my bailout?'" she told a crowd at Bitcoin 2025 in Las Vegas, referring to her industry nickname. "C'mon, let's have some consistency,” Peirce continued. “Yes, you should have freedom to make your own choices, and when it goes wrong, pick yourself up, dust yourself off, learn from it and do better next time. And that is the best way to move forward." Since Republicans took control of the SEC, including Commissioner Peirce and newly arrived Chairman Paul Atkins, they've worked to issue statements and directives to carve out corners of the crypto sector from the agency's jurisdiction, including memecoins, some crypto mining and certain stablecoins. But there remains a pathway of policymaking the agency has started down while lawmakers in Congress are also working on sweeping new laws that could further set its agenda. The SEC has a lot of current authority to clarify the nature of crypto securities, Peirce said, but if people want a U.S. federal regulator for retail trading, they'll need Congress to produce legislation to make that happen. She put the question to her audience on Thursday, whether they wanted a federal crypto regulator. "NO!" somebody shouted. “There you go, you have one answer,” she quipped. Peirce said that most crypto tokens aren't themselves securities, and as a result, trading platforms handling them shouldn't need to register with the SEC unless they're also touching the securities world. Asked about memecoins, which an agency statement said are outside its enforcement interests, Peirce offered it as an example of where investors need to look out for themselves. “Be an adult," she said. "If you want to engage in speculation, go for it. But if something goes wrong, don’t come complaining to the government about it.” And as for the trend of companies putting digital assets into their own treasuries, she said public companies are entitled to do what they like — as long as they're properly disclosing it. "They can make their own decisions," she said. "I'm agnostic."
