Not Regulators’ Job to Tell Americans What They Can and Can’t Speculate On: SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Commissioner Hester Peirce says that Americans should be free to speculate on whatever assets they choose.

In a new interview with CNBC, Peirce says that as a US regulator, it’s not her job to tell people what they can or cannot purchase or speculate on.

“I think people speculate about lots of different things, especially in low-interest rate environments. People speculate about lots of things. It’s not my job as a regulator to tell people what they can and can’t purchase and what they can and can’t speculate about.”

According to the SEC Commissioner, speculation is one of the driving forces of the American economy. Peirce says that the regulators’ role is to provide a framework, which should not be mistaken as a “seal of approval” for the assets in question.

“Speculation is what makes our markets work. I encourage everyone to be skeptical about everything they’re buying. So, if you are interested in crypto and you’re thinking of buying a crypto asset, you should be asking a lot of questions and trying to figure out what the purpose of a particular crypto asset is. That’s fine.

But the idea that by affording people a regulatory framework, we are providing a regulatory seal of approval is the wrong way to think about things. We, at the SEC, have a job to be disclosure regulators. So, if we’re given the job to write disclosure regulations for assets, that is not a seal of approval.”

Peirce has previously been critical of the SEC’s enforcement-style agenda aimed at the crypto space. In August, she and Commissioner Mark Uyeda dissented against the SEC’s enforcement action against media company Impact Theory’s non-fungible token (NFT) sales.

Says the Commissioners,

“The handful of company and purchaser statements cited by the order are not the kinds of promises that form an investment contract. We do not routinely bring enforcement actions against people that sell watches, paintings, or collectibles along with vague promises to build the brand and thus increase the resale value of those tangible items.”

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