SEC's Crypto Enforcement Chief Steps Down

By Melanie Waddell

News June 17, 2024 at 11:41 AM

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The SEC building. Credit: Diego M. Radzinski/ALM

David Hirsch, the Securities and Exchange Commission's head of crypto enforcement, has stepped down after nearly nine years at the agency.

"During that time I had the opportunity to work on more complex, challenging investigations and issues than I ever imagined when I joined the agency as a staff attorney in the Fort Worth Regional Office," he said early Monday morning in a LinkedIn post. "I'm particularly proud of the historic work done by the Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit team I had the privilege to lead."

While not disclosing his next move, Hirsch said on LinkedIn that he was "very excited for the next set of challenges. I look forward to sharing more about that soon, but for now I'm excited for a break and travel with my family before my son heads to college in the fall."

Ric Edelman, founder of RIA Edelman Financial Engines (earlier Edelman Financial Services) who now leads the Digital Assets Council of Financial Professionals, told ThinkAdvisor Monday in an email that he has a "high regard for David, and am very excited for him in his new role in the private sector."

Edelman interviewed Hirsch last June at the Digital Assets Council of Financial Professionals' Vision Conference, held in Austin, asking whether the SEC was engaging in a war against crypto via "regulation by enforcement."

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