President Donald Trump, pumper of multiple memecoins and perpetual rug puller, has tasked the US Securities and Exchange Commission with “developing a comprehensive and clear regulatory framework for crypto assets”—probably a very formal way of saying “crypto guardrails are being lowered. ” Acting Chairman Mark T. Uyeda is establishment of a task force to be led by SEC Commissioner and longtime friend of crypto Hester Peirce in a move that will likely lead to a gift to the industry that strongly supported Trump in the 2024 Presidential election.
The SEC's statement about the commission doesn't really provide much insight into what it will seek to do, other than to “provide clarity” on the rules that regulate the crypto industry. That can probably be achieved by simply removing all those rules, removing what Uyeda is defines as “novel and untested legal interpretations” used to regulate space under the previous administration.
During the Biden era, the SEC led by Gary Gensler made a lot of enemies among crypto true believers by insisting that so-called digital currencies be regulated as securities. Gensler has also led major enforcement efforts against large players in the crypto space, including chasing Coinbase for not registering as a securities exchange and charging the Cumberland trading platform for operates as an unregistered dealer. He also led questions on crypto startups and their operations. Basically, he tried to enforce the law.
You'd expect less of that under Hester Peirce's guidance. He was nicknamed “Crypto mom” by industry members thanks to his regular dissents against Gensler's actions. He opposed the SEC's enforcement practices during Gensler's reign and supported things like crypto ETFswhich every financial planning expert usually tells investors stay away from. (Of course, that didn't stop plural state from betting parts of their pension fund for state employees on volatile assets, something that certainly won't come back to bite them.)
As Trump loosens the noose on the crypto industry, those close to him are already reaping the rewards. He launched his own memecoin, $ TRUMPand then followed it up by promoting his wife's memecoin, $MELANIA. Both coins have seen a large amount of ups and downs in the days since their launch, but have almost certainly gained some good benefit for insiders who found some suckers to hold the bag for them.
That, along with the new SEC task force, will likely serve as signals to crypto capitalists that their Ponzi schemes are now legal.
