Hester Peirce, a two-term commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), head of the agency’s cryptocurrency task force and known to many as “Crypto Mom,” will join Regent University School of Law as a faculty member.

In a Tuesday notice issued by Regent University’s law school he said that Peirce will join as an associate professor from November. Her term at the SEC officially expired in June 2025, but the agency said commissioners “may continue to serve for approximately 18 months after the expiration of their terms if they are not replaced sooner.”

She joined the SEC in January 2018 after being nominated by President Donald Trump and confirmed by the Senate in December 2017. She was confirmed to a second term in 2020. She was initially nominated by President Barack Obama for the Republican Party’s SEC seat in 2015, but the U.S. Senate did not take action on her nomination.

According to the university, Peirce is expected to support the law school focus on academics in several areas, including federal litigation, securities regulation and digital assets.

Source: Hester Peirce

Peirce’s seat may not be filled immediately. Caroline Crenshaw, the agency’s previous Democratic commissioner, left in January, 18 months into her term, and President Trump has made no nominations for the position. Peirce’s departure will leave only two Republican commissioners on the SEC: Mark Uyeda and Chairman Paul Atkins.

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Since Trump took office in January 2025, the SEC has radically changed its approach to crypto regulation and enforcement. The agency has dropped several enforcement actions and investigations into crypto companies, including those linked to Trump and his family.

The CFTC is also struggling with a high number of vacancies

Together, the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) are the two most critical federal financial regulators overseeing aspects of the cryptocurrency industry. Led by Atkins and CFTC Chairman Michael Selig, both of whom are Trump’s picks, the agencies said they would coordinate to end what they call “regulatory turf wars.”

Source: Paul Atkins

However, as Congress passes the Digital Assets Market Structure Act, many lawmakers are calling on Trump to appoint a bipartisan group of commissioners to staff all agencies.

Selig remains the CFTC’s sole commissioner and chairman of the panel, which is expected to consist of five people, and with Peirce’s impending departure, the SEC’s membership will be circumscribed to two of the five commissioners. As of Wednesday, Trump had not announced any nominations for either agency.

The market structure law, the CLARITY Act, is expected to transfer many of the responsibilities and authorities regulating cryptocurrency markets from the SEC to the CFTC.

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