Paul Atkins

Camp

Shift

Crypto Task Force

<h2 id="the-sec-is-not-an-infrastructure-regulator">The SEC is Not an Infrastructure Regulator</h2>
SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce (<a href="https://x.com/HesterPeirce" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">@HesterPeirce</a>) spoke at the IC3 Blockchain Camp at Princeton University this week, laying out a clear position on where the regulator's authority should end when it comes to blockchain developers.
Peirce said developers who publish blockchain and DeFi code should not automatically be treated as securities intermediaries merely because others use their software. She noted that "many blockchain projects involve publishing open-source software, which is generally a protected activity under the First Amendment."
Her central point was blunt: "The SEC is not a general-purpose infrastructure regulator." She drew a sharp distinction between neutral infrastructure and centralized actors that control user assets, arguing that open-source code publication, general-purpose blockchain processing, and non-custodial tools should fall outside the SEC's reach.
The commissioner noted the SEC rulebook was built around intermediaries such as brokers, dealers, exchanges, clearinghouses, and investment advisers, and warned that applying those categories too broadly could pull blockchain developers into rules designed for centralized institutions. She offered a direct analogy: a neutral protocol that simply processes data is no more a market participant than a phone company carrying a stock tip is a broker.
In her view, responsibility for securities law violations should fall on those who commit unlawful acts, not on developers whose code later appears in financial activity. On truly decentralized systems, her position was equally direct: if nobody controls the system, there is nobody to register.
<h2 id="personal-views-broader-shift">Personal Views, Broader Shift</h2>
Peirce spoke in a personal capacity at the event. She leads the <a href="https://x.com/SECGov" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">@SECGov</a> Crypto Task Force, and her remarks carry weight even if they do not represent official agency policy.
Her comments align with the SEC's broader shift away from what Chair Paul Atkins has described as "regulation by enforcement," with the Crypto Task Force examining how existing securities laws should apply to digital assets and decentralized systems. The remarks also came weeks after SEC staff issued guidance suggesting that some front-end websites and interfaces that merely provide access to decentralized protocols may not fall within the traditional definition of a broker.
Peirce cautioned that her position is not a blanket rejection of regulation, but a call to calibrate the scope of securities laws to the realities of decentralized systems. Securities regulation may still apply when firms control customer assets, hold funds, or exercise discretion over securities.
Sources: <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/sec-peirce-open-source-blockchain-developers-securities-rules" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Cointelegraph: Hester Peirce Says Open-Source Blockchain Developers Shouldn't Face SEC Rules</a> <a href="https://crypto.news/hester-peirce-raises-big-question-over-defi-developer-liability/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Crypto.news: Hester Peirce raises big question over DeFi developer liability</a> <a href="https://tradeinformer.com/regulations/peirce-sec-crypto-conduct-regulation" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">TradeInformer: Peirce says SEC should regulate crypto conduct, not infrastructure</a>

SEC's Peirce: code is speech, not a reason to register

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