Hester Peirce (헤스터 피어스), a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission commissioner who has led the agency's cryptocurrency task force, is set to resign in November. Her move will further widen a vacancy in the SEC's leadership.

Cointelegraph, a blockchain media outlet, reported on Tuesday that Peirce will step down as an SEC commissioner in November after being appointed an associate professor at Regent University School of Law in Virginia.

The school said Peirce will take on a role strengthening academic capacity in federal litigation, securities regulation and digital assets. Her SEC term officially ended in June 2025, but SEC rules allow a commissioner to remain in office for about 18 months after the end of a term if a successor has not been decided.

Peirce joined the SEC in January 2018. She was nominated by President Donald Trump, confirmed by the Senate in December 2017 and approved for a second term in 2020. She has shown a friendly stance toward the crypto industry, earning the nickname "crypto mom", and has led the SEC's crypto task force.

This departure is expected to affect the SEC's regulatory enforcement structure as well as staffing. Caroline Crenshaw, a former Democratic commissioner, also stepped down in January this year, 18 months after her term ended, but Trump has not yet nominated a successor for the post. If Peirce also leaves, only Mark Uyeda, a Republican commissioner, and Chair Paul Atkins would remain at the SEC.

The SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission are key federal financial regulators overseeing the U.S. cryptocurrency industry. Since the launch of the Trump administration in January 2025, the SEC has significantly changed its approach to crypto regulation and enforcement. The SEC also withdrew enforcement actions and investigations targeting several crypto firms, including matters linked to Trump and his family.

Atkins and Michael Selig, the CFTC chair, have said the two agencies would coordinate an approach to end disputes over regulatory turf. That reflects a stance aimed at reducing conflict over the allocation of regulatory authority. In this situation, Congress is discussing the Clarity Act, a digital asset market structure bill.

The Clarity Act is expected to include provisions shifting a significant portion of responsibility and authority for regulating the crypto market from the SEC to the CFTC. Against that backdrop, lawmakers are demanding that the two agencies fill commissioner posts on a bipartisan basis and restore a normal decision-making structure.

The CFTC currently has only Chair Michael Selig, rather than a full five-member lineup. The SEC would also become a two-member body out of five seats with Peirce's departure. As of May 21, Trump has not put forward new commissioner nominations for either agency. As scrutiny of the crypto market structure bill and a reshuffle of regulatory authority continue, vacancies at the two major U.S. financial regulators are coming into focus.