Peirce Resigns From SEC, Leaving Commission at Two Commissioners

SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce will leave the agency on Oct. 2, her resignation letter confirms, dropping the commission to its bare minimum of two seated members.

Peirce posted the letter on X on Sept. 25 with the message “T minus 7,” counting down to her final day. She wrote that serving at the SEC was “the honor of my professional lifetime” and said she leaves confident in the leadership of Chairman Paul Atkins and Commissioner Mark Uyeda.

Her exit leaves Atkins and Uyeda, both Republicans, as the only commissioners on the five-seat panel. Two is the smallest number the SEC can act with, and three seats will be open. The White House has so far declined to name Democratic nominees to the SEC or to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and it is unclear whether it will seek to fill the vacancies.

Peirce, widely known in the industry as “Crypto Mom,” took her seat on Jan. 11, 2018, after appointment by President Donald Trump. Her second term expired in June 2025 and she continued serving in a holdover capacity, which SEC rules allow for up to 18 months. She led the agency’s Crypto Task Force from 2025 and pressed for crypto rules through the enforcement-heavy chairmanships of both her Republican and Democratic predecessors.

She will join Regent University School of Law as an associate professor in November, teaching securities regulation and digital assets. The university announced the hire in May.

Days before announcing her departure, Peirce used a Sept. 23 speech at a digital assets conference in New York to argue that regulators could catch criminals while collecting less personal data, citing tools such as zero-knowledge proofs. Her remarks are published on the SEC’s site but reflect her own view, not an agency position.