Crypto Mom's Crusade: Inside the SEC, Hester Peirce is Fighting for a Blockchain Future

If others at the SEC see crypto as a market that needs to be kept at arm's length, Peirce's concern is that regulators risk taking over the narrative around crypto innovation.

Labeling her dissent one incremental step "To making the Commission a little more open to innovation," Peirce gets that the SEC won't change its apprehensive attitude on crypto "Overnight."

If she's out of place at the SEC Peirce also feels like an outsider in Washington.

At the same time, Peirce feels drawn to the SEC for its key role in enforcing and creating the framework under which the U.S. capital markets operate.

Going on to pursue a law degree at Yale, Peirce would spend close to a decade working in the early days of her career at the SEC as a staff attorney and counsel.

Outside of Peirce's dissent in July, she tweeted in August that the SEC would move to review a decision disapproving nine different bitcoin ETF proposals, effectively breaking the news ahead of the agency.

Bringing up these same concerns with Peirce now, she begins by questioning the "Statutory authority" she and her fellow commissioners have at the SEC to consider the behavior of the underlying bitcoin markets.

Full steam ahead. Back inside the SEC, Peirce is showing me a picture of a steamship, not exactly an example of "Cutting-edge" technology.

"Don't sit on the edge of your chairs waiting for something to happen from the SEC. You have to go on with what you're doing," Peirce advises.

For her part, Peirce affirms that she will continue to work "In the background" to allow innovation in the crypto markets to flourish.