Odaily reported that U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Commissioner Hester Peirce has shared her views on perpetual contracts, prediction markets and the future direction of digital asset regulation. Her overall tone was described as positive and open, with an emphasis on building clearer regulatory boundaries for new financial products rather than relying on simple restrictions or vague oversight.
Rule 611 and the Scope of an Innovation Exemption
Peirce reviewed the Rule 611 trade-through proposal, which has been in development for about 20 years. In discussing the so-called innovation exemption mechanism, she said it would be intentionally designed to be strict and limited. In her view, such a structure is meant to balance market innovation with investor protection, rather than create a broad channel for products to operate outside regulatory expectations.
When addressing digital asset-related products, Peirce identified tokenized securities, perpetual contracts and prediction markets as new financial products that require a clearer rule framework. She argued that regulators should not deal with these products through blanket limitations or ambiguous rules. Instead, a more clearly defined framework should set out responsibilities and compliance requirements for participants.
Self-Custody and Financial Privacy as Core Principles
Peirce also emphasized that self-custody and financial privacy should be treated as foundational rights in the future regulatory system. She placed both principles at the center of digital asset regulatory design, saying they should be incorporated into future rulemaking rather than treated as secondary issues outside the main framework.
Her remarks on perpetual contracts, prediction markets and tokenized securities point to a preference for defined rules over unclear supervision. At the same time, her focus on self-custody and financial privacy shows that these principles form an important part of her approach to future digital asset regulation.