SEC’s Peirce Says Clear Crypto Regulations Are A Must

Republican commissioner Hester Peirce, a top Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) official, wants to see more regulation for cryptocurrency, according to Reuters, as major companies like Tesla, BNY Mellon Corp. and Mastercard get into the game and digital currency’s status as a payment type becomes more real.

Peirce has affectionately been dubbed “the crypto mom,” Reuters writes, due to her support for the asset class. She has long advocated for regulations that would help crypto assets thrive without fear of running afoul of the law.

“It’s not only that there have been calls for clarity for some time and that a new administration brings the chance to take a fresh look, but it also is a moment where it seems others in the marketplace are also taking a fresh look,” she said, according to Reuters.

She said recent events, such as Tesla’s $1.5 billion investment in bitcoin and BNY Mellon announcing it would be helping users facilitate crypto holding and transfers, had sent prices to record highs. These events added to “the urgency of us taking some sort of action in this area to provide more clarity,” she said, according to the report.

There was also the recent event in which Reddit users, trading on low-cost retail platforms, drove up the prices of GameStop and AMC, putting hedge funds betting against those companies in a bind and causing chaos in general. Peirce said it was good to see new investors participating in the market and “of course we want them to be educated and skeptical,” Reuters reports. She also added that the bigger range of market participants could help improve price formation.

The aforementioned launch of BNY Mellon’s new unit to boost crypto, PYMNTS writes, is a result of what the company saw as a growing appetite and demand. Mike Demissie, head of advanced solutions at BNY Mellon, will head up the digital assets team and is working on what will be the industry’s first multi-asset digital custody and administration platform, serving both traditional and digital assets.