by Matthew Solomon, Tom Bednar, Hugh Conroy, Jr., Deborah North, Rahul Mukhi, Brandon Hammer, Samuel Levander, and Alex Janghorbani
From left to right: Matthew Solomon, Tom Bednar, Hugh Conroy, Jr., Deborah North, Rahul Mukhi, Brandon Hammer, Samuel Levander, and Alexander Janghorbani (photos courtesy of Cleary Gottlieb)
On February 4, 2025, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce published a statement titled “The Journey Begins,” laying out a vision for the new administration’s SEC Crypto Task Force.[1] The statement signals a clean break from the enforcement-centered approach to the digital asset industry taken by former SEC Chair Gary Gensler. Commissioner Peirce compares that past approach to a bad road trip, where the Commission “refused to use regulatory tools at its disposal and incessantly slammed on the enforcement brakes as it lurched along a meandering route with a destination not discernible to anyone.”