The SEC’s Crypto Task Force, Its Priorities, and an Invitation to Engage

February 12, 2025

On February 4, 2025, SEC Commissioner Hester M. Peirce issued a statement on the future of the Crypto Task Force. The Task Force’s approach starts with engagement with the crypto industry and the public to provide regulatory clarity, while simultaneously disentangling the many threads of active litigation surrounding crypto. Pierce outlines the goal of creating a better regulatory environment that protects investors and also preserves industry’s ability to offer new products and services. The creation of this regulatory environment includes working with regulators outside the SEC for matters that fall outside the SEC’s jurisdiction and bringing regulatory gaps to Congress’s attention when a matter does not fall within any regulator’s jurisdiction.

In her statement, Peirce outlined the following areas of focus for the Task Force:

1. Security Status: examining the current status of different types of crypto assets under the federal securities laws.
2. Scoping Out: identifying areas that fall outside the SEC’s jurisdiction. As an initial step, the staff welcomes requests for no-action letters to help define circumstances where no enforcement action would be recommended.
3. Coin and Token Offerings: considering recommending SEC action to provide temporary prospective and retroactive relief for coin or token offerings for which the issuing entity or some other entity willing to take responsibility: (1) provides certain specified information, (2) keeps that information updated, and (3) agrees not to contest the SEC’s jurisdiction in the event of a case alleging fraud in connection with the purchase and sale of the asset. The aim is to bridge the gap until more permanent rules or legislation can be finalized.
4. Registered Offerings: also considering working with SEC staff to recommend modification of existing paths to registration, including Regulation A and crowdfunding, to provide a viable for registering token offerings.
5. Special Purpose Broker-Dealer: exploring possible updates to the special-purpose broker-dealer no-action statement. An initial change the Task Force may suggest is to expand the no-action statement to cover broker-dealers that custody crypto asset securities alongside crypto assets that are not securities.
6. Custody Solutions for Investment Advisers: working with investment advisers to provide an appropriate regulatory framework within which advisers can safely, legally, and practically custody client assets themselves or with a third party.
7. Crypto-Lending and Staking: providing clarity about whether crypto-lending and staking programs are covered by the securities laws and, if so, how. The Task Force will also work to help address how such programs can be structured to be consistent with the law.
8. Crypto Exchange-Traded Products: The statement first points out that the SEC  already is receiving proposed rule changes from securities exchanges to list new types of crypto exchange-traded products. The Task Force will work with the staff to provide clear statements about the process of approving or disapproving these applications. The Task Force will also assist the SEC in considering requests to modify certain features of existing exchange-traded products, including to allow for staking and in-kind creations and redemptions. Custody is the first obstacle, and may need progress before these changes can be operationalized.
9. Clearing Agencies and Transfer Agents: working on the intersection of crypto and clearing agency and transfer agent rules. The Task Force will continue to work with market participants interested in tokenizing securities or otherwise using blockchain technology to modernize traditional financial markets.
10. Cross-Border Sandbox: considering ways to facilitate cross-border experimentation on a limited scale and temporary timeframe, with the possibility of more permanent approaches.

The statement included a link to the Crypto Task Force webpage to follow what the Task Force is doing and to engage with the Task Force. Lastly, the statement invites public input via email and requests for in-person or virtual meetings.  See here for more details.