America’s crypto rulebook turned upside down: Perth hints at 2025 reset

After years of enforcement-first oversight, the United States is moving toward writing cryptocurrency rules. During that shift, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce said 2025 will be a year of change in monetary policy.

SEC Stance Shift 2025

Mr. Peirce described a clear tipping point in government agencies. He said the SEC is developing permanent rules for token issuance and exchange. He stressed that it was premature to develop a formal framework and that institutions already wishing to participate were supported by its clarification.

Peirce also explained that the market has lived too long under incident-driven enforcement. she pointed to the new one Crypto Task Force Serves as an internal path for drafting a stable rulebook. She hopes the changes will replace uneven enforcement with predictable standards.

At the same time, he said, these rules will focus on true securities. This plan suggests that the SEC’s scope for spot tokens will be narrow. This change could define how new issuance will work for years to come.

Jurisdictional Split CFTC vs. SEC

Mr. Peirce spoke about the division of oversight between government agencies. In her view, a spot token market is a better fit for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. on the other hand, SEC Retain authority over crypto assets that meet real-world securities tests.

He explained that the friction was caused by two regulators reviewing the same product. He added that splitting oversight will reduce duplicative investigations and costs. This line is now focused on the nature of the assets, rather than giving all tokens the same label.

Next, he mentioned capital formation. He said compliant ICO-style issuance could resume with a registration or exemption pass for token funding. This step ties token issuance to existing US capital formation lanes rather than a side door. As such, future token issuances may rely on standard exemptions, disclosures, or applications. This adjustment is intended to move new issuances from informal issuances to notified issuances.

Self-custody and financial privacy

Peirce argued that personal control of tokens is a fundamental freedom. He argued that users should not be told they have to hold their assets with an intermediary. He said that by combining the freedom of storage with the privacy of wallets, individual control will make the system more resilient.

Then she moved into privacy. She said data rights and payment monitoring must protect legitimate users. She wants financial privacy to act as a shield for personal wealth, rather than a loophole for abuse.

He added that the plumbing of new digital assets must respect identity rights without exposing transaction history by default. He said that in the long term, payment rules will need to balance personal data protection principles with legal compliance.

In the interview, Peirce cited a story about watermelon and peanut butter to explain the public’s misconceptions about early cryptocurrencies. This point showed that critics often misjudge the intentions of cryptocurrencies due to unfamiliar analogies rather than evidence. That tension must be diminished through easy-to-read rules that precisely define tokens, she said. Clear language is important. Written standards reduce cultural misunderstandings.

Peirce spoke confidently about 2026. She sees comprehensive regulation coming in stages. First comes the definition and publication path. Next is agency coordination. A full implementation will then take place. He said the SEC is starting the journey rather than ending the discussion. The timeline focuses on the building structure before implementation. Each stage adds disclosure, licensing logic, custody rights, and oversight partitioning.

She concluded the rapid-fire section by framing the history of cryptocurrencies into three eras: early invention, exchange-heavy adoption, and current institutional preparation. The third era begins when the rules first begin. That era coincides with 2025 and lasts until 2026.