Hester Peirce leaves the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday, roughly two months before the end of her second term extension, reducing the two agencies that anchor US crypto oversight to three commissioners between them.

Her departure leaves Chair Paul Atkins and Commissioner Mark Uyeda as the SEC's only sitting members. The agency is statutorily structured with five seats. Peirce, widely nicknamed "Crypto Mom" for her long-standing digital asset policy positions, was one of the most recognizable figures on the commission's crypto file.

The staffing shortfall is historically unusual. Her exit marks only the second time in US history that the SEC has operated with two commissioners. A smaller panel could slow the agency's policy agenda, though no specific rule has been identified as at risk of delay.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is in an even thinner position. Chair Michael Selig has served as the CFTC's sole commissioner since acting Chair Caroline Pham left in December 2025. A CFTC spokesperson said Selig welcomes new commissioners once the Senate nominates and confirms them, and that the agency remains equipped to oversee its part of the crypto market.

Seven empty seats across two agencies

Counted together, seven commissioner seats across the two agencies will be vacant after Friday. Under federal law, only President Donald Trump can nominate replacements. The White House has not announced any nominees or provided a timeline.

A White House official said Trump intends to nominate members to both agencies "in the near future." A September 4 CNBC report, cited secondhand and not independently verified, said White House officials were vetting four candidates for the empty CFTC seats. The names were not disclosed.

The vacancy count does not divide evenly between the agencies. Mark Uyeda, selected by President Joe Biden in 2022, is the only remaining commissioner across both panels who was not appointed by Trump.

Rulemaking without a new statute

The leadership gap lands while both agencies build crypto policy through rulemaking rather than legislation. The CLARITY Act, the bill expected to hand the CFTC expanded authority over digital assets, failed in the Republican-controlled Senate earlier this month.

That outcome leaves the SEC and CFTC to interpret existing federal law. The SEC has issued staff guidance on investment contracts, while the CFTC has described how companies can use blockchain recordkeeping. Both agencies have continued advancing regulatory work despite operating without full commissions.

The CFTC has separately moved crypto market rules forward through the federal review process, filing proposed market rules with the White House as the CLARITY Act stalled in the Senate.

Operational consequences

For market participants, the compressed panels carry practical weight. Commission-level votes on rules, enforcement settlements and no-action relief all depend on a quorum of sitting members. With two commissioners at the SEC and one at the CFTC, each remaining official carries outsized influence over the direction of digital asset policy, and any single absence could stall scheduled action.

Staff-level guidance, such as the SEC's investment contract framework, can proceed without commission votes. Formal rulemakings and contested enforcement matters generally cannot.

The immediate question is whether Trump's promised nominations reach the Senate quickly enough to restore fuller panels. Until confirmations land, the SEC and CFTC will supervise a large crypto market with three commissioners between them, while much of the governing legal framework continues to take shape through agency guidance and rulemaking rather than statute.