U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Commissioner Hester Peirce said she will leave the agency on October 2. She announced the date in a resignation letter posted on X on Friday.

Peirce, known in the industry as "Crypto Mom," has long pushed for clearer rules for the crypto sector. According to ChainCatcher, she continued advocating for regulation even as the SEC took a tougher enforcement approach to crypto under former chairs Jay Clayton and Gary Gensler, and later led work at the agency's newly created crypto task force.

Her crypto-related work covered policy statements and guidance on mining, staking, and meme coins, as well as efforts to define different types of crypto assets and clarify their regulatory status. The SEC has recently begun proposing formal rules, including "Regulation Crypto Assets," which would create a framework for issuing crypto assets without triggering strict securities oversight. The agency has also opened a path for securities tokenization through an "innovation exemption" with a five-year limited term.

Peirce will become an associate professor at Regent University School of Law. After her departure, the SEC will have only two commissioners left, Atkins and Mark Uyeda, though the rules allow two members to form a quorum.

On the same day, the SEC released a crypto assets FAQ document addressing how to avoid triggering a "necessary managerial efforts" finding when marketing tokens, as well as questions involving staking receipt tokens and when secondary markets may be viewed as promoters of an investment contract.