SEC's crypto task force set to hold its first roundtable later this month

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's newly minted crypto task force will hold its first roundtable later this month as part of a series of meetings.

The meeting titled, “How We Got Here and How We Get Out – Defining Security Status," will take place on March 21 in Washington D.C. at the agency's headquarters, the SEC said in a statement on Monday. The roundtable will be part of a series called "Spring Sprint Toward Crypto Clarity."

“I am looking forward to drawing on the expertise of the public in developing a workable regulatory framework for crypto," Republican Commissioner Hester Peirce, who is leading the crypto task force, said in the statement.

The SEC has gone through a significant shift in how it regulates crypto compared to the previous Biden administration's approach. Former SEC Chair Gary Gensler had called on crypto firms to register with the agency and said that most cryptocurrencies are securities, suing several entities in the process.

Since then, the agency has dropped numerous lawsuits and investigations against crypto firms, including most recently against Yuga Labs on Monday. Over the past week, the SEC has also declared that memecoins are not securities and so may not be subject to federal securities laws.

Acting Chair Mark Uyeda created the task force in late January and tapped Peirce to lead. Peirce has said she plans to prioritize classifying some tokens as "non-securities."