Overview
- Commissioner Hester Peirce told a Princeton audience that publishing open‑source blockchain code should not by itself trigger broker, dealer, exchange, or other intermediary registration.
- Peirce said responsibility for securities law violations should fall on people who commit unlawful acts, not on developers whose publicly released software is later used in trading.
- She raised constitutional concerns, describing open‑source coding as speech that is generally protected by the First Amendment.
- Her remarks follow April Division of Trading and Markets staff guidance saying some crypto user interfaces that merely translate user inputs to on‑chain transactions may avoid broker‑dealer registration.
- The SEC’s Crypto Task Force is continuing a review of how securities laws apply to digital assets and decentralized systems and no formal rule change on developer liability has been announced.