Written by: Unchained

Compiled by: Plain Language Blockchain

In the turbulent seas of cryptocurrency, regulators are often seen as cold "gatekeepers," but what if the rule-makers are trying to provide you with a navigation map to compliance on the other shore?

In this issue of "Decks in the City," we welcome a heavyweight guest: SEC commissioner Hester Peirce (Pur), affectionately called the "Crypto Mom" by the community, along with Sumera, a driving force behind the crypto task force. In this in-depth dialogue led by women in epidemic prevention, we ripped off the tag of bureaucracy and directly hit the industry's most sensitive nerve: how does the SEC internally use AI to filter hundreds of proposals? How do small teams escape the quagmire of "million-dollar compliance costs"? As the regulatory scepter swings between the SEC and the CFTC, entrepreneurs seek "bulletproof" long-term certainty?

This is not just a debate about legal boundaries; it is a candid confession about "building trust." If you want to know what the future of Web3 looks like in the eyes of regulators in this "cold wallet, hot opinions" era, this lengthy article will unveil the real logic behind the building.

1. Daily Life of the Crypto Task Force: From Rebuilding Trust to the "Writing" Phase

Katherine KK: Let's start with Sumera. One point that we feel is very important at the grassroots level, which the audience also wants to know, is: frankly, what does the crypto task force—SEC's crypto task force—actually do on a daily basis? What are your work focuses? How many submissions have you reviewed? Can you give us more insights into your daily work?

Sumera Ununice: Thank you so much for having me. Before we begin, I want to provide an SEC disclaimer: Everything I say today does not represent the views of the Commission, the Chairman, other officials, or staff. These are just my personal views as the Chief Operating Officer of the crypto task force.

Speaking of the crypto task force, we've been doing a lot. It's been over a year since we launched, but like you, we jumped in with both feet right from the start, and since then, we've been executing like a fire hose. At the initial launch, one of our major missions was to rebuild trust with the industry. The environment at the time was that people were unwilling to talk to us. I believe that to do regulation well, there needs to be open channels of communication. Therefore, we worked very hard to establish these channels. We held multiple roundtable discussions, and you participated in one of them. This was a way to get people back into the building and start the foundational dialogue we needed.

After establishing trust and communication channels, we released additional guidance in areas where we needed further action or large-scale rulemaking (rule development). We call it the "ineffective role"—what things we know we can clarify immediately, and we have clear answers for. Therefore, we released different statements for staff. Now we are entering the next phase: thinking about long-term, fair actions that can be enduring, and more enriching for regulatory authorities, or that developers can refer to while building.

One of the best things we can do in this area is to complete the remaining gaps or uncertainties through rulemaking. Staff are working hard to push this work forward. The task force is closely collaborating with the staff. But for four years, our daily work has mainly been many meetings, a lot of interactions, and reviewing the hundreds of written comments we've received in submissions, which are responses to the Commissioner's initial request for comments. Now we are really entering the "writing" phase: reviewing rulemaking drafts (where possible), drafting Commission statements, and similar work. So now more time is spent in front of screens, reviewing documents, and writing when appropriate.

Katherine KK: You have done a lot of work, and it's hard work. We've also seen results. We've proposed guidance and seen comments from the Commission. Especially as you said, before hearings, there was a lack of communication with the police, as there was a general fear of communication at that time. And we all know this is not a good way to collaborate; it's not good for anyone—whether traditional finance or the crypto industry. So I'm glad to see this kind of open industry dialogue.

2. Decision-Making Mechanism and AI Empowerment: How to Transform Roundtable Dialogues into Regulatory Guidance

Katherine KK: Today we have many big names online, and we are very excited to have all of you together. Sumera just shared about the daily operations of the crypto task force. But you mentioned roundtable discussions, and I really appreciate these discussions because they truly reflect your emphasis on spacing and interacting with the industry. I want to ask a question: What is the internal process for transforming the content of the roundtable discussions—those dialogues and thoughts—into actual guidance? Or rather, how do you incorporate these discussions into your considerations? I'll direct this specifically to Pur.

Hester Peirce (Commissioner Pur): Okay. Before we begin, I also want to clarify that my views only represent my personal views as a Commissioner and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SEC or other Commissioners. You asked about the process of transforming what we learned during the roundtable discussions into guidance. It's just one of the inputs, a very helpful input. I find it incredibly valuable when multiple people are interacting and responding to the same issue. Of course, the written comments we receive are also helpful, as are all the meetings we conduct. So I think all of these are inputs that come together. I will rewatch the recordings of the roundtable discussions because I feel there is a lot of content, and I want to confirm whether I missed anything. So, essentially, it's just one input in the overall process.

Sumera Ununice: Yes. As Commissioner Pur mentioned, we will revisit them. It's difficult to digest everything and come up with follow-up questions during the meeting, and the advantage of these roundtable discussions is that we’ve published all the recordings on the crypto task force's website, allowing people to rewatch the parts they are particularly interested in. I know staff find this important too—especially now, as staff around rulemaking, these recordings are a great resource. They can listen to those dialogues and then reach out to the expert fields and topic specialists we selected at the time.

Sumera Ununice: I only recently discovered that I could directly ask AI (because this is a public website, not our internal system): "What are KK's main points on this issue? What is she most concerned about? And tell me who are the two people with the strongest opinions on this issue and what are their main arguments?" I can really do this, and it will provide a timeline. This way, I can go back and check or re-listen. Because sometimes I know someone made a point, and I liked their approach, but if I rely only on my memory, it will forever fall into a black hole. Now, with these public recordings, plus the way we can analyze them using this Arctic method, it has greatly enhanced the influence of these roundtable discussions or other dialogues.

Katherine KK: That's awesome. So much is happening in the crypto space right now. Among the difficulties of regulating this space, there are many "apples and oranges"—NFTs, tokenized securities, L2s, and so on. As you face a multitude of issues ahead, how do you prioritize?

Hester Peirce (Commissioner Pur): This is certainly difficult. We can’t satisfy all owners with our prioritization arrangements. But I think we must first clarify what is explicitly outside of our jurisdiction and then turn to what falls within our jurisdiction and deal with those particularly pressing technical or legal issues. You will see rulemaking advancing, but it takes longer. So sometimes it's a matter of speed—what can we address quickly, and what needs a bit more time?

One area currently drawing a lot of interest is the tokenization of securities. This clearly falls within our mandate, and it involves many different issues, so we are thinking about many related questions. Additionally, during the roundtable discussions, even before the crypto task force was established, we encountered many various issues. So we created a priority list from the beginning, but we are always seeking external input to help us adjust this list.

Sumera Ununice: Yes. In the early formation of the crypto task force, our organizational method was incredibly helpful—we based it on what we’d heard quickly and considered what answers we could provide. But moving forward, industry participation is vital. We can receive guidance from Congress while also engaging in many dialogues, and themes gradually emerge. If we hear consistent questions or concerns from multiple practitioners, we know what the market currently needs answers for. Can we respond directly? Or does it need to be considered within the rulemaking process? This external input is very important for us.

Furthermore, we also receive no-action requests, but sometimes I repeatedly hear the same questions in our causal dialogues. I’ll say: you need to come to us formally. You’ll discuss it on the margins of meetings, mention it in large conferences, and bring it up in podcasts, but no one formally requests it from us. When that happens, it’s hard for us to justify prioritizing it. So, if you encounter issues as a practitioner or an industry insider, please make sure to contact us formally.

3. Breadth of Regulation: From the Clarity Act to Token Issuance Pathways

Katherine KK: That is very good advice. I want to add something related to the work you are doing and how you determine priorities. I worked as a staff attorney at the SEC, mostly in the enforcement division, but in my last nine months, I served as the Chief Legal Counsel of the Office of Legislative Affairs. One of the coolest parts of that job was being able to provide technical assistance on legislation that Congress was considering or moving forward with. So my question is: We know Congress is advancing the Clarity Act, but as you said, the market needs guidance and rules. So the SEC can't just stand by waiting for Congress to act. When you know this bill is still hanging in Congress, how do you think about how to move forward without being particularly adversarial? How do you balance this?

Hester Peirce (Commissioner Pur): We have authority, and Congress wants us to use the authority we already possess. So this part is relatively straightforward. The other part is telling everyone: some things are not actually within our Washington scope. If it falls under another agency's jurisdiction, maybe it already does; but if you want to clearly place it in our jurisdiction or that of another agency, then Congress needs to be aware of that existence. What we are doing is generally consistent with the direction of our congressional efforts. We have all seen the drafts of the Clarity Act, so we know the general direction. I believe the work I am doing indeed helps inform the broader congressional efforts. With Congress holding the pen to write the laws, we will act as they direct. But I think the steps we take independently, as well as the steps we take jointly with the CFTC, will lay a good foundation for joint rulemaking and other collaborations.

Sumera Ununice: We are absolutely sensitive to the meaning of Congress. We've watched the various versions of the Clarity Act, so we know we can continue to push forward while clearly stating we are not operating in an entirely gray area, and if clear regulations emerge, we will adjust our work or approach accordingly.

Katherine KK: With the development of crypto technology, different alliances will form internally, and people have different views of priorities. Have you observed differences in goals and priorities between small teams and larger teams?

Hester Peirce (Commissioner Pur): It's really difficult for small teams, because they can't afford heavy lawyers. And even if they hire lawyers, if the SEC's guidance is unclear, lawyers can’t tell them how to move forward. Their funds are running thin, so the timelines are very tight. I do feel a sense of loss for small projects. I hope we can directly tell them what to do so they can focus on building. Larger market participants tend to be more willing to engage in policy because they don't carry the same level of resource burden.

Sumera Ununice: These two categories are actually complementary. We have resources from common traditional players or older players who can invest in legal analysis or collective work; while small teams can leverage the outcomes of this work. For us, creating a small builder that relies on a framework is crucial to allow them to access capital markets through that framework. We do not want to create an environment that requires seven or eight funding rounds to enter— we strive to avoid that.

Thus, much of the guidance we release aims to be broadly applicable. As we advance rulemaking, we will be very cautious in considering how this will affect different participants. "On the way to crypto" is a good way for us to reach out. But it should also be known that we operate an open-door policy. You need a special pass to reach your regulators. Each of our crypto task force websites has a meeting request page, and anyone can submit their opinions to us.

Katherine KK: Regarding the compliance pathway, as a token issuer, you shouldn't have to consider spending two million dollars and hiring a seven-person legal team to launch your token. I imagine you are aware of whether this point is also being considered as you create a path for crypto to achieve compliance.

Hester Peirce (Commissioner Pur): Yes, absolutely. I think that’s exactly what we are striving to achieve in rulemaking—making regulation proportional to the amount of capital you raise. Once you start raising significant amounts of capital, I think it is a reasonable expectation that you should be able to afford to hire lawyers to ensure that disclosures are correct. There are divergences here, and we consider the size of the entity and the amount of capital raised, working to make rules reasonably match.

Sumera Ununice: I think we have been very focused on this point during the drafting proposals. But I want to reiterate that we very much need everyone to provide feedback on these proposals. If something is not feasible, that’s the best time for feedback.

4. Information Disclosure and Future Vision: The Transformation Brought by Smart Contracts

Katherine KK: This is practically reasonable. Disclosure issues are also a topic that general counsel frequently discusses. Jesse, do you want to ask a specific question on this topic?

Jesse: Yes. There is a point that as long as people are given good enough information, they can make their own choices. But in the crypto realm, this may look very different, as the speed of information flow is not on the same level, and there are transparency issues involved. In the crypto space, what constitutes "good information," and is it different from what's expected in traditional financial markets?

Hester Peirce (Commissioner Pur): First, I think the market should not wait for regulators to tell them what good information is. If you believe there is certain information people need, you should proactively ask for that information. I notice that there are currently some efforts from the private sector where everyone sits down and thinks: if you want to buy a token project, what would you want to get from that project? But I think this should differ from the information set you seek when purchasing a company's stock. And when we see issues arise, it also helps us think about what disclosures should be considered. However, I have always believed that anyone buying an asset should not do so without obtaining sufficient information to make them comfortable with the purchase.

Sumera Ununice: Yes, I have a pretty strong view on disclosures. Most of my career has involved disclosure work. For the crypto space, the basic disclosure issues are consistent. I believe the overall approach of federal securities laws is determined. Investors need to know what to assess whether this investment is suitable for them? We continue to hope that crypto-related products will provide this information. A historical issue we have seen is that due to the lack of a regulatory framework, the lack of up-to-date information is especially severe in markets without requirements.

Another aspect that excites me about disclosure is that when we apply smart contracts and other technologies, one of the biggest criticisms of the current disclosure system is that the amount of information is complex and difficult for the average person to digest. Not only is it hard to digest, but it is also hard to accept. With smart contracts, we can build a better disclosure framework. I am very excited to see if anyone will drive this point. Using AI to handle all different pieces of information, making it more interactive; is there an opportunity for consumers to design investment products? I see some of our smart contracts showcasing very exciting things.

5. Coordination of Inter-Agency and Public Service Legacy

V: We want to talk to you about the recently announced CFTC-SEC coordination initiative. What happens if the two agencies disagree on something? For example, how to classify a token? Have you considered how to resolve such disputes?

Hester Peirce (Commissioner Pur): I think right now both sides see this as a very necessary process to establish. Because in the past, we've all seen that if there is no regular communication mechanism, one agency thinks a product belongs to its own jurisdiction, while another agency says, "Wait, I think this belongs to my jurisdiction." This is very destructive to the market. I think both agencies are very committed to taking a rational approach. As for whether there is a formal mechanism for dispute resolution? The key lies in having true commitment from the top levels to establish a habit. I just don’t希望我们双方对外采取相互冲突的立场。我很欣赏CFTC和SEC之间的这种持续协调与沟通。

Sumera Ununice: Currently, we are engaging in large-scale interactions among staff across agencies, ensuring that SEC personnel can dialogue with corresponding CFTC personnel to establish relationships. Since staff usually stay longer than the administration, we want to maintain this kind of coordination among staff.

Katherine KK: Speaking of "sustaining," how do you operationalize "futureproofing" from a mechanism perspective?

Hester Peirce (Commissioner Pur): On one hand, through rulemaking, because rules are harder than simple guidance; abolishing the constitution is the most enduring. But I want to say another thing: as people increasingly use your products and services, new administrations find it challenging to change it. So now is the moment you really need to strive to build things.

Sumera Ununice: I have been fascinated by this issue since the day the task force was established. There are various ways to protect this. One thing I am particularly proud of is that this is not just an initiative of "10" (the Commissioner's office), but a framework built collaboratively by the entire building. When leadership changes, if the staff has already been involved in each policy department, they understand what they are doing, and I think it's essential not to get too caught up in "this is crypto." It is driven by the mission of this building, by the staff of this building—many of whom will likely work here for a long time.

V: What do you consider the most proud aspect of your time at the SEC?

Hester Peirce (Commissioner Pur): Honestly, it's the people I work with who help me in my work. These people are dedicated to crypto or other responsibilities I have here. I am genuinely amazed by their talent.

Sumera Ununice: Commissioner Pur will never proactively speak about her legacy because she is one of the most humble people you could meet. Her legacy sets the standard for public servants. I have never seen anyone more honest, or with more wisdom than her. The task force could not exist without her leadership and the trust people have in her. She has demonstrated courage and integrity.

Katherine KK: Before we wrap up, do you have anything you would like to convey to our audience?

Hester Peirce (Commissioner Pur): We truly want to hear everyone’s voice at every stage. Please continue to engage with us; that is the only way we will achieve good outcomes. We are working hard to find the right balance, and this is an iterative process.

Sumera Ununice: My message is: never give up. There will be doors and walls along the way; that will always happen. You must keep moving forward, and you must believe in what you are creating. That is why America is the greatest country in the world—we are not afraid to build, create, innovate, and dream of a world better than the one we have now. It all comes from builders.

Katherine KK: Thank you so much for your time and expertise. You are an immense inspiration to all owners. We will see you again next week on "Decks in the City"!

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