"Although we have been very slow in developing the guide, a wide range of individuals are showing increasing interest both within the cryptocurrency space and among traditional financial institutions. Space is changing very rapidly, " she said. "So I expect that we will have to deal with this more and more in the years to come."
Pierce believes that the slowness of the SEC hinders the development of financial innovation and does not promote risk-taking by entrepreneurs.
"It's really difficult. There are so many different levels of bureaucracy that people are extremely reluctant to make decisions, because if something goes wrong, the consequences will be directed against them," she said.
At the same time, Peirce noted positive changes in the regulation of cryptocurrencies by the commodity futures trading Commission and the Office of the Comptroller of the currency, as well as authorities in other countries, which are slowly but surely pushing the SEC to take more action.
According to Pearce, there are many employees at the SEC who would like the Agency to be more supportive of innovation. At the same time, the growing interest in financial technologies will force the regulator to move forward, she said.
Pearce also noted that the responsibility for regulating smart contracts and decentralized Finance lies with Congress, which should give the SEC guidance on this issue. She hopes that the regulator, which has rejected all applications for a bitcoin ETF in the past, will reconsider its position, but declined to speculate on when this might happen. The Commissioner is confident that the SEC has developed separate standards that apply exclusively to bitcoin.
Peirce also admits that a digital dollar will appear in the US, but this is not an area that, according to her, deserves close attention: "I think a lot of interesting innovations are happening outside the digital currency space of Central banks."