Commissioners of SEC Advocate More Attention to Regulation for Digital Assets

Commissioners of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Hester Peirce and Elad Roisman are advocating the institution to pay more attention to crafting regulation for emerging areas, digital assets included, rather than overhauling existing rules, following the newly released report, the Spring 2021 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions (Agenda), released by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs on June 11, 2021, which includes the SEC Chair, Gensler’s Agenda.

The Agenda made clear that the Chair’s recent directive to SEC staff to consider revisiting recent regulatory actions taken with respect to proxy voting advice businesses was not an isolated event, but just the opening salvo in an effort to reverse course on a series of recently completed rulemakings, according to SEC’s press release.

Hester Peirce and Elad Roisman pointed out that while there were important and timely items on the list, including rules related to transfer agents and government securities alternative trading systems, the Agenda was missing some other important rulemakings, including rules to provide clarity for digital assets, allow companies to compensate gig workers with equity, and revisit proxy plumbing.

“Perhaps the absence of these rules is attributable to the regrettable decision to spend our scarce resources to undo a number of rules the Commission just adopted, which are laid out in the Administrative Procedures Act,” they stated.

Reviews on the Agenda included rules that are less than a year old and haven't resulted in occurrences that would require a review, according to Peirce and Roisman. They specifically took umbrage with the Agenda's plan to review rules related to proxy voting, the expanded definition for so-called "accredited investors," whistleblowers and the allowance of temporary delays in reporting payments for exploratory activities until the year in which the payments are made.

"The inclusion of these rules in the Agenda undermines the Commission’s reputation as a steady regulatory hand," they said. 

“We hope Chair Gensler will reconsider the need to revisit freshly minted rules, but we look forward to working with him and our fellow Commissioners on other rulemaking initiatives reflected on the Agenda and on addressing issues of perennial importance such as elder investor fraud and small business capital formation,” they added.