Hester Peirce, a senior member of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has announced that the agency is now withdrawing from its role in regulating memecoins.
This means that investors should not expect any protection or guidance regarding their tokens like TRUMP.
“There is a lot of interest in memecoins, but people should know this: You should not expect SEC protection in these assets,” Peirce said in an interview with CNBC. This statement came at the Bitcoin 2025 conference held in Las Vegas.
The SEC said in February that most memecoins were not considered securities under U.S. federal law, leaving the agency ungoverned by assets such as the TRUMP token, which was launched weeks after Trump was reinstated as president.
Peirce likened this process to NFTs, which became popular in 2021, and argued that the SEC should announce its inactivity with a clear public statement on this issue, as it did at that time.
On the other hand, since President Trump took office, the SEC has taken a softer, more industry-friendly approach towards the cryptocurrency industry, but this strategy has raised conflict of interest allegations as the Trump family has become increasingly involved in crypto.
The Trump Organization and its affiliates control 80% of the TRUMP token. The token skyrocketed in January after Trump made statements on social media, reaching a market value of $15 billion. However, it soon lost a significant amount of value. Still, project developers continue to make money thanks to the fees charged per transaction.
The White House maintains that there is no conflict of interest by saying Trump’s assets are in a trust managed by his children, but figures such as Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal have warned that such assets could be a “back door” for foreign or corporate interests to access the president.
SEC Member Peirce said the agency’s decisions were not politically motivated: “We didn’t have clear rules. There were a lot of questions about how crypto activities intersect with securities laws. Now we want to take a step back and write clear rules.”
*This is not investment advice.
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