TL;DR

• SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce delivered a farewell speech titled “Peirce Out.”
• She criticized the agency’s reliance on enforcement instead of clearer rulemaking.
• She said she would join Regent University School of Law in November 2026.

Peirce Uses Farewell Speech To Criticize SEC Approach

SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce used her farewell address, titled “Peirce Out,” to revisit one of the central themes of her tenure: the agency’s approach to innovation, crypto, and rulemaking.

In the speech, published by the SEC, Peirce criticized the agency’s reliance on enforcement actions and compared parts of the regulatory process to an “escape room.” The comments fit her long-running argument that crypto firms and developers…