SEC commissioner: SEC's withdrawal of civil enforcement action against Coinbase does not mean it is abandoning enforcement

Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) Commissioner Hester M. Peirce released a statement saying that the SEC has officially dropped the civil enforcement action against Coinbase and said it will not take further action on the case. Peirce made it clear that she never supported the case and criticized the SEC's previous reliance on enforcement action to regulate the crypto industry, arguing that it harmed the public interest in the United States, hindered the development of the industry, and hindered the normal functions of the SEC's professional policy team.
Peirce pointed out that the SEC's broad application of the Howey test has led to unclear regulations, making it difficult for compliance companies to operate, and criminals to use regulatory ambiguity to evade legal responsibility. In addition, the lack of a clear regulatory framework has forced many crypto companies to spend significant resources on legal responses rather than product innovation. She argued that the SEC's previous practice of formulating policy through enforcement not only misled the industry, but also prevented policy teams from effectively participating in industry rulemaking.
She emphasized that the current SEC has established a "Crypto Task Force", which gives the policy team the lead to work with the public to develop a regulatory framework applicable to the crypto industry. This withdrawal does not mean that the SEC has given up on enforcement, but rather that future regulation will be centered on policy development, rather than relying solely on enforcement actions.