SEC and CFTC Crypto Oversight Drops to Three Commissioners

Hester Peirce will leave the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday after eight years at the agency, cutting active commissioners at the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to three in total.

Peirce, a Republican known in industry circles as ‘Crypto Mom’ for her views on digital assets, departs about two months before the end of an 18-month extension on her second term. Her resignation leaves the SEC with Chair Paul Atkins and Commissioner Mark Uyeda as the only two sitting commissioners.

The SEC normally operates as a five-member bipartisan panel. The agency functioning with two commissioners will be only the second time in U.S. history it has run at that staffing level.

The CFTC has been led by Chair Michael Selig as the sole active commissioner since December 2025, when acting chair Caroline Pham left. With Peirce’s exit, the two agencies will have three active commissioners combined: two at the SEC and one at the CFTC.

Under federal law the president nominates commissioners to both agencies and the Senate must confirm those nominees. The White House has not formally announced nominations. A White House official indicated the president intends to nominate members “in the near future.” White House staff have been vetting potential candidates, according to people familiar with the process.

Senate Democrats criticized the administration’s handling of nominations in a June letter to the president and Senate leadership, writing that Congress designed these boards to be bipartisan and expressing concern that the administration appears focused on retaining control of the agencies rather than working with lawmakers.

Both agencies have continued to advance digital-asset policy through rulemaking and guidance. Lawmakers had pressed for the Digital Asset CLARITY Act, which would have reassigned some oversight from the SEC to the CFTC; the bill failed to pass the Senate earlier this month. In the absence of new legislation, the SEC issued staff guidance on applying the Howey test and investment-contract analysis to token issuers, and the CFTC published guidance on blockchain recordkeeping and other compliance steps under commodity and derivatives laws.

Filling the vacant seats requires presidential nominations followed by Senate confirmation hearings. Until new commissioners are confirmed, the SEC and CFTC will continue to operate with reduced leadership while pursuing regulatory work under existing authorities.