U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Hester Peirce has denied endorsing private cryptocurrency projects or cryptocurrency firms.
This comes after OpenVPP, a cryptocurrency project that is meant to streamline the electric utility sector with blockchain, announced that it was working “alongside” Peirce on the tokenization of energy.
The project also attached a photo of Peirce and OpenVPP CEO Parth Kapadia, which was ostensibly meant to signal some sort of endorsement. The social media post clearly has a promotional spin.
I welcome the chance to meet with crypto projects to hear from them about their regulatory challenges, but I do not “work alongside” or endorse private crypto projects or firms.
— Hester Peirce (@HesterPeirce) September 17, 2025
Crypto task force roundtables
Peirce, who has been dubbed “Crypto Mom” due to her cryptocurrency-friendly views, is spearheading the agency’s cryptocurrency task force that is meant to foster engagement with early-stage cryptocurrency startups that have just 10 or fewer employees. The goal of the task force is to make sure that the voices of smaller cryptocurrency firms are taken into account when developing regulations for the industry.
The agency is in the process of conducting a series of roundtable discussions across the U.S. New York City is set to be the next stop for the SEC, according to the schedule that was unveiled earlier this year. The tour will also include such cities as Los Angeles, Cleveland, Scottsdale, Atlanta, and Ann Arbor.
However, the effort to hear underrepresented voices within the industry might also lead to some awkward encounters like the one described above.