By Cleve Mesidor,Contributor

Copyright forbes

8th Annual Black Blockchain Summit at Howard University, 9/27/25
Black Blockchain Summit

“Our capital markets in the United States are a treasure that belongs to everyone,” said Hester Peirce, a commissioner at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, during the 8th annual Black Blockchain Summit.

Affectionately known as “Crypto Mom” by the industry, she continues to serve well after her second term ended in June.

A Federal And A Local Regulator Talk Crypto

The fireside where she spoke at Howard University was moderated by Karima Woods, Commissioner of the District of Columbia Department of Insurance, Securities and Banking.

“I do believe that financial education is the best protection that we can give people,” SEC Commissioner Peirce stated when Commissioner Woods asked about risk mitigation. She added that there’s a need to move away from disclosures as a primary default.

“Principles-based regulation is what we need,” she added as the conversation shifted to technology as a financial inclusion tool.

Sandbox playground

Designing Digital Assets Sandboxes

There was good synergy between the two regulators as the discussion deepened.

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Commissioner Peirce explained the various initiatives that she is advancing at the leadership of the SEC Crypto Task Force. She expressed enthusiasm for a cross-border regulatory sandbox between the United Kingdom and the United States to catalyze digital assets – a proposal she first broached last year.

Regulatory sandboxes are an innovation strategy that both regulators have explored, but with very different jurisdictional targets.

Since 2019, Commissioner Woods has been advancing an innovative vision for a DC regulatory sandbox. She expounded on those efforts during a 2021 budget hearing.

“DISB remains committed to innovation in the regulation of the financial services industry. The District of Columbia Financial Services Regulatory Sandbox and Innovation Council was created by Mayor Bowser with a mandate to examine the feasibility of creating a safe regulatory space that would allow for more innovative financial services products, services and business models to be deployed in the District and produce a report to the Mayor with relevant findings and recommendations. The Sandbox Council successfully delivered its recommendation to create a regulatory sandbox to Mayor Bowser in October 2020, and DISB looks forward to working with the Committee to advance the proposed legislation currently before the Council that will kick off the District’s regulatory sandbox program.”

On parallel tracks, federal vs. local, Commissioners Woods and Peirce are seizing on the current momentum around crypto policy and rebooting their respective sandbox projects.

Annual Coin Center Dinner, 9/25/25, Plaza Hotel, NYC
Coin Center Dinner

Regulator With A Sense Of Humor

While very engaging, this was not a typical stump stop for the SEC Commissioner. The policy panel during the Black Blockchain Summit was preceded by a kind of comedic stand-up appearance by Commissioner Peirce a few days earlier at the annual Coin Center Dinner in New York City.

“A lot of people have asked me what is next. I could leave the government and do a 180 on crypto, but that career path is too well-trodden for me. My plan long had been to transition to beekeeping—honey is delicious and nutritious, and bees sting with less glee than most of my Twitter commenters.”

Those remarks were in jest, but she did, however end her monologue with a more serious tone.

“I especially appreciate the members of the crypto community who put their noses to the grindstone to serve other people—even when doing so requires them to take career, financial, legal, and reputational risk. Many people who have taken such risks are here at tonight’s dinner. You have built or are building solutions to seemingly intractable problems, you have ignored the noise so that you could think deeply about how to improve people’s lives.”

It is evident that Commissioner Peirce has a principled approach to outreach and engagement.

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